| Asteroids discovered: 5 | |
|---|---|
| (87269) 2000 OO67 | July 29, 2000 |
| (87555) 2000 QB243 | August 25, 2000 |
| 88611 Teharonhiawako | August 20, 2001 |
| (134210) 2005 PQ21 | August 9, 2005 |
| (139775) 2001 QG298 | August 19, 2001 |
The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, IAU code 807) is a complex of astronomical telescopes 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 (NOAO) along with Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) in Tucson, Arizona. Nicholas Mayall was intimately involved in its creation.
The principal telescopes are the 4-m Victor M. Blanco Telescope, named after Puerto Rican astronomer Victor Manuel Blanco, and the 4.1-m Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, dedicated in April 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 (AURA), which also operates the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Gemini Observatory. One of the two 8-m telescopes comprising the Gemini Observatory is co-located with CTIO on AURA property in Chile.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is the funding agency for NOAO.
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At the time of CTIO's construction, there were 88 observatories in the Northern Hemisphere but only 10 in the Southern Hemisphere. None of the Southern Hemisphere observatories was particularly well sited for astronomical observations.
Astronomers recognized that this imbalance was particularly unfortunate because the southern skies boast many important astronomical objects. The centre of the Milky Way, its satellite galaxies the Magellanic Clouds, the brightest globular clusters, and the clusters and nebulae-rich Carina-Centaurus Milky Way region are all in the southern half of the sky. Hence, astronomical studies of such objects and also all-sky observations were sparse.
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 (The Squash) halfway to a watering hole named Los Placeres (The 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 Vicuña over a narrow 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 less than two hours 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 was 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.
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. However, the springs dried up in 1975, and CTIO had to develop another water source. At that time two more 50,000 gallon tanks were added for storage at the summit, and water was trucked from the Elquí 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 seven years from the time its funding became available until it first saw light on the night of September 25, 1974. Although these telescopes were built before widespread computerisation, they have all been modernized and CTIO still serves as a principle platform for U.S. astronomical investigation of the southern skies.
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.
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