Víctor M. Blanco Telescope
|
Víctor M. Blanco Telescope | |
| Organisation | NOAO |
|---|---|
| Location(s) | Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile |
| Coordinates | 30°10′10.78″S 70°48′23.49″W / 30.1696611°S 70.8065250°WCoordinates: 30°10′10.78″S 70°48′23.49″W / 30.1696611°S 70.8065250°W |
| Altitude | 2,207 m (7,241 ft) |
| Wavelength | optical |
| Built | 1974, completed 1976 [1] |
| Telescope style | reflector |
| Diameter | 4.0 m |
| Collecting area | 10.014 m2 |
| Mounting | equatorial, Ritchey-Chrétien |
| Enclosure | spherical |
| Website |
www |
The Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, also known as the Blanco 4m, is a 4-metre aperture 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.[2][3][4] In 1995 it was dedicated and named in honour of Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco.[5] It was the largest optical telescope in the Southern hemisphere from 1976 until 1998, when the first 8-metre telescope of the ESO Very Large Telescope opened.
Currently the main research instrument used at the telescope is the Dark Energy Camera (DECam), the camera used in the Dark Energy Survey. DECam saw its first light in September 2012.[6][7]
| # | Name / Observatory |
Image | Aperture | M1 Area |
Altitude | First Light |
Special advocate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | BTA-6 (Special Astrophysical Obs) |
 |
238 inch 605 cm |
26 m2 | 2,070 m (6,790 ft) | 1975 | Mstislav Keldysh |
| 2. | Hale Telescope (Palomar Observatory) |
 |
200 inch 508 cm |
20 m2 | 1,713 m (5,620 ft) | 1949 | George Ellery Hale |
| 3. | Mayall Telescope (Kitt Peak National Obs.) |
 |
158 inch 401 cm |
10 m2 | 2,120 m (6,960 ft) | 1973 | Nicholas Mayall |
| 4. | Víctor M. Blanco Telescope (CTIO Observatory) |
 |
158 inch 401 cm |
10 m2 | 2,200 m (7,200 ft) | 1976 | Nicholas Mayall |
| 5. | Anglo-Australian Telescope (Siding Spring Observatory) |
 |
153 inch 389 cm |
12 m2 | 1,742 m (5,715 ft) | 1974 | Prince Charles |
| 6. | ESO 3.6 m Telescope (La Silla Observatory) |
 |
140 inch 357 cm |
8.8 m2 | 2,400 m (7,900 ft) | 1976 | Adriaan Blaauw |
| 7. | Shane Telescope (Lick Observatory) |
 |
120 inch 305 cm |
~7 m2 | 1,283 m (4,209 ft) | 1959 | Nicholas Mayall |
See also
References
- ↑ Great Telescopes. (2003). In Atlas of the Universe. Retrieved from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/philipsuniverse/great_telescopes
- ↑ Freeman, Ira Henry (October 28, 1979). "An Astronomical Journey in Arizona". The New York Times (Late City ed.). p. 377. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ↑ http://www.lsstmail.org/noao/noaonews/mar00/node28.html
- ↑ Gregory, B; Abbott, T (July 22, 2008), The Blanco 4m Telescope, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
- ↑ Brief History of THE CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY
- ↑ Dark Energy Camera and Dark Energy Survey:photos, videos & graphics fnal.gov
- ↑ Berkeley Lab sensors enable first light for the dark energy camera phys.org Retrieved 2012-09-18
External links
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