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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an astronomical observatory located on the summit of Mt. Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Mt. Cerro Pachón about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the southeast. It is approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of La Serena, where support facilities are located. The principal telescopes at CTIO are the 4 m Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, named after Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco, and the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope, which is situated on Cerro Pachón. Other telescopes on Cerro Tololo include the 1.5 m, 1.3 m, 1.0 m, and 0.9 m telescopes operated by the SMARTS consortium. CTIO also hosts other research projects, such as PROMPT, WHAM, and LCOGTN, providing a platform for access to the southern hemisphere for U.S. and worldwide scientific research.

History

In 1959, German astronomer Jürgen Stock arrived in Santiago to look for the optimum site for an observatory, working on behalf of the Yerkes Observatory by the University of Chicago under Gerard Kuiper.He went to the semi-arid region of Coquimbo, South of the Atacama desert, and climbed numerous mountains, carrying a Danjon telescope and an interferometer to determine visibility and accurately measure the wavelength of light. He did not have a barometer to do meteorological forecasting and learnt from muleteers to observe animal behavior, like condor accumulations, for weather changes.

The site for the Inter-American Observatory on Mt. Cerro Tololo was identified by a team of scientists from Chile and the United States in 1959, and it was selected in 1962. Construction began in 1963 with Stock as the first director, and regular astronomical observations commenced in 1965.

In 1974, construction of large buildings on Cerro Tololo ended with the completion of the Víctor Blanco Telescope, but smaller facilities have been built since then. Cerro Pachón is still under development, with two large telescopes (Gemini South and SOAR) inaugurated since 2000, and one in the final stages of construction as of 2023 (the Vera C. Rubin Observatory)

Organization

CTIO is one of two observatories managed by NOIRLab, the other being Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) near Tucson, Arizona. NOIRLab is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which owns the property around the two peaks in Chile and at the headquarters in La Serena, Chile. AURA also operates the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Gemini Observatory. The 8.1 m (320 in) Gemini South Telescope located on Cerro Pachón is managed by AURA separately from CTIO for an international consortium. The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the funding agency for NOIRLab.

The Small and Medium Research Telescope System (SMARTS) is a consortium formed in 2001 after NOAO, the predecessor to NOIRLab, announced it would no longer support anything smaller than two meters at CTIO. The member institutions of SMARTS now fund and manage observing time on four telescopes that fit that definition. Access has also been purchased by individual scientists. SMARTS contracts with NOIRLab to maintain the telescopes it controls at CTIO, and NOIRLab retains the right to 25% of the observing time, and Chilean scientists retain 10%. SMARTS began managing telescopes in 2003.

CTIOPI is the Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory Parallax Investigation. It began in 1999 and uses two telescopes at Cerro Tololo, the SMARTS 1.5 m reflector and the SMARTS 0.9 m reflector. The purpose of CTIOPI is to discover nearby red, white, and brown dwarfs that lurk unidentified in the solar neighborhood. The goal is to discover 300 new southern star systems within 25 parsecs by determining trigonometric parallaxes accurate to 3 milliarcseconds.

Telescopes

SMARTS telescopes

Tenant telescopes

Former telescopes

Future telescopes

Other scientific projects

Discoveries

On the morning of Saturday, December 7, 2013, Luis González, a research assistant at the University of Chile, discovered what would later be confirmed as a supernova by José Maza, an astronomer at University of Chile and a researcher for CATA (Centro de Astrofísica y Tecnologías Afines or “Centre for Astrophysics and Related Technologies”). The supernova is the first discovery to be made by the CATA 500, a robotic telescope designed and operated by a Chilean team located in Santiago, approximately 500 kilometres to the south. It is part of the GLORIA project, which provides open access to astronomers from around the world to a network of remotely operated robotic telescopes. The new supernova lies in the galaxy ESO 365-G16, located 370 million light years from Earth, and has a mass eight times that of the Sun.

Gomez's Hamburger, believed to be a young star surrounded by a protoplanetary disk, was discovered in 1985 on sky photographs obtained by Arturo Gomez, support technical staff at the Observatory.

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to CTIO.
  • General view of CTIO grounds
    General view of CTIO grounds
  • The Colors of the Night Sky
    The Colors of the Night Sky
  • Aerial view looking south
    Aerial view looking south
  • Aerial view looking east
    Aerial view looking east
  • Victor M. Blanco Telescope
    Victor M. Blanco Telescope
  • Swarthmore H-alpha survey telescope
    Swarthmore H-alpha survey telescope
  • Telescopes and other facilities on the summit of Cerro Tololo
    Telescopes and other facilities on the summit of Cerro Tololo
  • Sunset skies at CTIO
    Sunset skies at CTIO
  • The dark cloud-like structures are dusty areas of the Milky Way that absorb visible light
    The dark cloud-like structures are dusty areas of the Milky Way that absorb visible light
  • Morning view of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
    Morning view of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
  • Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope (left)
    Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope (left)
  • The three buildings featured in this image house an important trio of telescopes: the SMARTS 1.0-meter Telescope, the Curtis Schmidt Telescope, and the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (far right)
    The three buildings featured in this image house an important trio of telescopes: the SMARTS 1.0-meter Telescope, the Curtis Schmidt Telescope, and the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope (far right)
  • The towering Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope and one of the four SMARTS Consortium telescopes, both set against the spectacular backdrop of the early evening sky
    The towering Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope and one of the four SMARTS Consortium telescopes, both set against the spectacular backdrop of the early evening sky
  • The gleaming dome of the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope is flanked by two telescopes of the SMARTS Consortium in this image from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
    The gleaming dome of the Víctor M. Blanco Telescope is flanked by two telescopes of the SMARTS Consortium in this image from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
  • A riot of star trails dominate this striking image from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)
    A riot of star trails dominate this striking image from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)
  • A rare richly colored sunset sky is the backdrop to this image of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)
    A rare richly colored sunset sky is the backdrop to this image of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)
  • A Sky Aglow
    A Sky Aglow
  • A Tendril of Stars
    A Tendril of Stars
  • Wraparound Observatory
    Wraparound Observatory
  • The sky over Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) with the rotation of Earth on its own axis.
    The sky over Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) with the rotation of Earth on its own axis.
  • Cerro Tololo Light Show
    Cerro Tololo Light Show
  • Total Lunar Eclipse over Cerro Tololo
    Total Lunar Eclipse over Cerro Tololo
  • Three telescopes stand sentry under an unusual skyscape in this image from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)[50]
    Three telescopes stand sentry under an unusual skyscape in this image from Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO)
  • The Circle of Light[51]
    The Circle of Light
  • From the high altitude of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, two astrophotographers captured the elusive sunset phenomenon known as the green flash.
    From the high altitude of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, two astrophotographers captured the elusive sunset phenomenon known as the green flash.
  • NSF's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a program of NOIRLab has published a mammoth survey of the galactic plane of the milky way.
    NSF's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a program of NOIRLab has published a mammoth survey of the galactic plane of the milky way.

See also