The observatory is served byPelicano Airport, located 23 kilometres (14 mi) to the southwest. Prior to the establishment of the observatory on Cerro Las Campanas the mountain ofCerro Morado was surveyed in late 1962 and early 1963 as a potential site.[3]
The 6.5 m (260 in)Magellan Telescopes are two identical single-mirror reflecting telescopes. TheWalter Baade Telescope saw first light in 2000, and theLandon Clay Telescope in 2002. They are managed by LCO for an international consortium of institutions which includes LCO.[4][5]
TheAll Sky Automated Survey (ASAS) is a project to monitor the southern sky forvariable stars. It consists of two wide-field telescopes, one narrow field telescope, and one ultra-wide field telescope. A prototype system was installed in 1996 and a second in 1997, both in the same enclosure as the 10-inch astrograph. The three larger telescopes were installed in 2000. The ultra-wide device was added in 2002 when the existing telescopes were moved to a new, smaller enclosure.[11] Location:29°00′36.9″S70°42′05.1″W / 29.010250°S 70.701417°W /-29.010250; -70.701417 (ASAS South Telescopes at LCO) ± 5 meter.
The Hungarian Automated Telescope South (HAT-South) facility is part of theHATNet Project to detectexoplanets using thetransit method. It consists of a pair of four 0.18 m (7.1 in)Takahasi reflectingastrographs on a common mount. It was installed in 2009.[12]
A 0.25 m (10 in) astrograph operated at the site for some time, and was used to discover Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A).[19]
The Pi of the Sky project operated two wide-angle cameras that searched for the optical signature ofgamma ray bursts at LCO starting in 2004. The installation was moved to a commercial telescope hosting site inSan Pedro de Atacama in 2011.[20]
TheGiant Magellan Telescope is anextremely large telescope under construction[21] at LCO, with commissioning expected to begin in 2029. It is 24.5 m (80 ft) effectiveaperture design with seven 8.4 m (28 ft) segments. The telescope will have a light-gathering area of 368 m2 (3,960 sq ft), which is roughly fifteen times greater than one of the Magellan telescopes. The mirrors are being fabricated by theSteward Observatory Mirror Laboratory, and the first was started in 2005.[22]
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