Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
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The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, IAU code 807) is a complex of astronomical telescopes
Astronomy in Chile
Chile can be considered the capital of Astronomy in the world, nowadays it gathers 42% of Astronomy Infrastructure and by 2018 will concentrate the 70% of the global infrastructure of telescopes. In the north of the country, the skies are clean and dry for more than 300 days a year...
and instruments located at 30.169 S, 70.804 W, approximately 80 km to the East of La Serena, Chile at an altitude of 2200 metres. The complex is part of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory
National Optical Astronomy Observatory
The National Optical Astronomy Observatory is the United States national observatory for ground based nighttime ultraviolet-optical-infrared astronomy. The National Science Foundation funds NOAO to provide forefront astronomical research facilities for US astronomers...
(NOAO) along with Kitt Peak National Observatory
Kitt Peak National Observatory
The Kitt Peak National Observatory is a United States astronomical observatory located on 2,096 m Kitt Peak of the Quinlan Mountains in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert on the Tohono O'odham Nation, southwest of Tucson...
(KPNO) in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
. Dr. Nicholas U. Mayall was intimately involved in its creation.
The principal telescopes are the 4-m Victor M. Blanco Telescope
Victor M. Blanco Telescope
The Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, also known as the Blanco 4m, is a 4m telescope located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile. Commissioned in 1974 and completed in 1976, this telescope is similar to the Mayall 4m telescope located on Kitt Peak. In 1995 it was dedicated and named in...
, named after Puerto Rican astronomer Victor Manuel Blanco
Victor Manuel Blanco
Dr. Víctor Manuel Blanco, PhD, was a Puerto Rican astronomer who in 1959 discovered "Blanco 1," a galactic cluster. Blanco was the second Director of the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, which had the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere at the time. In 1995, the telescope...
, and the 4.1-m Southern Astrophysical Research
SOAR telescope
The Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope is a modern 4.1-meter-aperture optical and near-infrared telescope located on Cerro Pachón, Chile at 2,738 meters elevation...
(SOAR) telescope, dedicated in April of 2004. The latter telescope is actually situated on the neighboring Cerro Pachon, but is managed by CTIO. Other telescopes on Cerro Tololo include the 1.5-m, 1.3-m, 0.9-m, and the Yale 1.0-m telescopes operated by the SMARTS consortium of universities and research institutes. CTIO also host many tenant observatories and research projects, such as PROMPT, ALO, WHAM, and soon LCOGTN, providing a platform for access to the southern hemisphere for U.S. and world-wide scientific research.
The NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy
The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy is a consortium of universities and other institutions that operates astronomical observatories and telescopes...
(AURA), which also operates the Space Telescope Science Institute
Space Telescope Science Institute
The Space Telescope Science Institute is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope and for the James Webb Space Telescope...
and the Gemini Observatory
Gemini Observatory
The Gemini Observatory is an astronomical observatory consisting of two telescopes at sites in Hawai‘i and Chile. Together, the twin Gemini telescopes provide almost complete coverage of both the northern and southern skies...
. One of the two 8-m telescopes comprising the Gemini Observatory is co-located with CTIO on AURA property in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
.
The National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
(NSF) is the funding agency for NOAO.
History
Prior to CTIO, the number of observatories in the Northern Hemisphere was 88, whereas the number of observatories in the Southern Hemisphere was 10. None of the Southern Hemisphere observatories had frequent clear night skies or exceptional “seeing,” as astronomers call atmospheric conditions. In fact, the Southern Hemisphere telescopes could only collect 10% of the light collected by the northern ones.Most astronomers recognized that this imbalance in the world-wide distribution of optical telescopes was especially unfortunate because the southern skies boast many important astronomical objects. Astrophysically unique objects of the southern sky are the Magellanic Clouds, the brightest globular clusters, and the clusters and nebulae-rich Carina-Centaurus Milky Way region, to name but a few. Hence, astronomical problems requiring the study of such objects and also of all-sky observations were often neglected or were very difficult to carry out.
When surveyors began scouting for a site for CTIO, they already knew that the Atacama desert, in northern Chile, was the world’s driest desert. Hence, astronomical observations would be relatively free of distortions caused by moisture in the atmosphere. They also found that the desert air was unusually stable, due to a semi-permanent high pressure system. On November 23, 1962, the decision was made to locate the new observatory on Cerro Tololo and to call it the "Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory." Prior to that, CTIO was usually referred to by AURA officials as the "Chile Project." Before the selection of Tololo, in August 1961, a 0.41 m telescope had been hauled to the mountain top, on mule back. This telescope was used to perform the final site testing and subsequently used for serious astronomical research by Dr. J. Stock, and by University of Chile astronomers, especially Prof. Hugo Moreno.
The first construction efforts at CTIO were spent on building a primitive shelter for the 0.41 m telescope and laying a rudimentary road to a place called "El Zapallo” (i.e., "Squash") halfway to a watering hole named "Los Placeres" (i.e., "Pleasures") found on the way up to the mountain. The mule-trail to the mountain top was also improved. Before these improvements, a typical trip from La Serena to Tololo started with a 3 hour taxi ride to Vicuna over a very narrow and winding road, followed by a 5 or 6 hour mule or horseback ride to Los Placeres with an overnight stay to recuperate from the long ride, and a final 2 to 4 hours ride - depending on one's riding ability - to the mountain top. (Today it takes 1.5 hrs by car to go from La Serena to Tololo.)
On November 25, 1962 AURA bought the property called "El Totoral” which includes close to 30,000 hectares with Cerro Tololo near its center. "El Totoral” means a place where Totora grass, a reed-like plant used for roofing, grows. This grass is rare in AURAS’s Totoral, however.
A reliable water source also had to be developed. At about 1 km below the summit, two natural springs provided a convenient source. At the time AURA bought El Totoral, 15 families lived on the grounds and subsisted by raising goats. In order to keep the water source clean, a family and their animals had to be moved downstream a considerable distance. In retaliation, he converted his house into a bar-discotheque. This resulted in an unusual amount of night-time traffic on the Tololo road, a development that was promptly terminated. In regard to the goat-herding families within the AURA holdings, nominal yearly rental charges were imposed. This measure prevented the families from becoming owners of the land they occupied through squatters' rights. Thus, among AURA's diversified activities in Chile one should include those of a landlord.
By June, 1964, water was being pumped from Los Placeres to Cerro Tololo. The water delivery system was later improved, and by December 1965 a 50,000 gallon storage tank had been built near the mountain summit and the pumping station had automatic filtering and chlorinating facilities. Unfortunately, the springs dried up and CTIO had to develop another water source in 1975. At that time two more 50,000 gallon tanks were added for storage at the summit, and water was trucked from the Elqui River up to Tololo.
By the end of 1975, after 13 years had passed since the decision to develop CTIO, AURA had put into operation eight telescopes. The Blanco 4m telescope took only 7 years from the time its funding became available until it first saw light on the night of September 25, 1974. These were indeed proud achievements especially if one considers the complex supporting infrastructure that the telescopes require in order to operate effectively at a remote location. Although these telescopes were built before computers, they have all been modernized and CTIO still serves as a principle platform for U.S. astronomical investigation of the southern skies.
Work Environment
CTIO is known as a friendly and community oriented organization. Their activities include bike races from the guard gate to the summit (32.5 km, 1650 m vertical gain), galileaoscope building workshops and weekly, free tours of the telescopes. CTIO employs approximately 20 astronomers, 10 computer specialists, 30 engineers and 50 administration, facilities, and telescope operations staff.New Projects
- SOAR Adaptive Module (SAM) -- modern ultraviolet guide star system http://www.ctio.noao.edu/new/Telescopes/SOAR/Instruments/SAM/
- DECam / Dark Energy Survey -- imager with the widest field of view in the world http://www.ctio.noao.edu/decam/
- Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) -- highest priority research activity in astrophysics for the coming decade http://www.lsst.org/lsst/