It is a 10-meter-wide parabolic dish inside a building to protect it from bad weather.

The building front doors and roof are opened when the telescope is in use.

Along with the 12 Meter Telescope on Kitt Peak, this telescope is maintained by the Arizona Radio Observatory, a division of Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona.

The dryness of the air around and above Mount Graham is important for extremely high frequency (EHF) radio and far-infrared observations – a region of the spectrum where the electromagnetic waves are strongly attenuated by any water vapor or clouds in the air.

This telescope is used nine to ten months of the year, and it is stowed only when there is too much water vapor in the atmosphere, primarily during the summertime.