Cerro Tololo

On July 4 we set off for the final adventure of the trip. We got access to visit Cerro Tololo Observatory. We passed the access road on July 2 shortly before we arrived at our eclipse site. This time traffic was minimal 😀. After checking in at the guard house we began the long climb up the hill to Cerro Tololo.

The observatory operated by NOAO is a joint American NSF and Chilean project. NOAO also operates Kitt Peak in Arizona. The facility is on multiple peaks. We were to visit Cerro Tololo. Nearby is Cerro Pachon that houses Gemini South, Soar, and the under construction LSST.

This was our first view up the hill to Cerro Pachon

Coming around a bend gave us our first look at Cerro Tololo

A look back to the coast which now had typical winter weather. This is why we headed inland on July 2.

Cerro Pachon from Cerro Tololo. From left to right Soar, Gemini South, LSST.

The Blanco 4M is one of the principle instruments used in research on Dark Energy. It locates distant supernova to measure the distance and recession velocity.

The 1.5M Cassegrain SMARTS telescope .

The Blanco 4m telescope .