 SOAR Telescope, as seen at evening twilight | |
| Alternative names | SOAR |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Vicuña,Elqui Province,Coquimbo Region, Chile |
| Coordinates | 30°14′17″S70°44′01″W / 30.238°S 70.73372°W /-30.238; -70.73372 |
| Altitude | 2,738 m (8,983 ft) |
| Diameter | 4.1 m (13 ft 5 in) |
| Website | noirlab |
  Location of Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope | |
 Related media on Commons | |
TheSouthern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope is a modern 4.1-meter-aperture (13 ft) optical andnear-infrared telescope located onCerro Pachón, Chile, at 2,738 metres (8,983 ft) elevation. It was commissioned in 2003, and is operated by a consortium including the countries ofBrazil andChile,Michigan State University, theCerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) (part of theNational Optical Astronomy Observatory, NOAO), and theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Partners have guaranteed shares varying from 10 to 30 percent of the observing time.
The telescope usesactive optics on its primary and secondary mirrors to attain median image quality 0.7 arcsec at a wavelength of 500 nm. Multiple instruments are available on standby, mounted at unusually high weight-capacityNasmyth foci and two lower capacity bent-Cassegrain foci. Switching is accomplished within a few minutes by rotating the 45° tertiary mirror. The pointing of this mirror is adjusted at high speed to prevent image blur from vibrations induced by wind-shake of the telescope structure.
Its optical specifications are:
Current (5/2014) instruments are:
Additional facility instruments are being commissioned:
User instruments are employed by individual astronomers or teams but not available to all users.
US astronomers access the telescope remotely over theInternet 2. Chilean and Brazilian astronomers use their high-speed networks. An on-site operator controls where the telescope points while the remote astronomer controls the instrument and data retrieval.
The SOAR telescope dome is a $2 million, 66-foot-diameter (20 m), weatherproof structure weighing over 70 tons.[2]
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