The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) is an astronomical

observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

located on the summit of Cerro Chajnantor, at an altitude of within a

lava dome In volcanology, a lava dome is a circular mound-shaped protrusion resulting from the slow extrusion of viscous lava from a volcano. Dome-building eruptions are common, particularly in convergent plate boundary settings. Around 6% of eruptions on ...

in the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert ( es, Desierto de Atacama) is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1,600 km (990 mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes Mountains. The Atacama Desert is the driest nonpolar desert in the ...

of northern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. The site is located less than north-northeast of the

Llano de Chajnantor Observatory Llano de Chajnantor Observatory is the name for a group of astronomical observatories located at an altitude of over 4,800 m (15,700 ft) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. The site is in the Antofagasta Region approximately 50 ki ...

, where the

Atacama Large Millimeter Array The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is an astronomical interferometer of 66 radio telescopes in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, which observe electromagnetic radiation at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. The a ...

(ALMA) is located, but is over higher in elevation. The eventual goal of the project is to construct the TAO telescope (or TAO 6.5m telescope), a

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviole ...

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

telescope at the site. A first step towards that goal has been the construction and installation of a pilot telescope, called miniTAO, completed in 2009. With first light achieved in March 2009 in the visible region, and in June 2009 for the infrared region, the observatory has become the highest permanent astronomical observatory in the world. The high altitude of the observatory is essential for its mission, for it is an infrared light observatory, and infrared light is absorbed by the water vapor in the atmosphere making it imperative that an infrared observatory be located in high altitude where the atmosphere is sparse.

Description

The telescope's primary mirror will have a diameter of and will be silver-coated. The secondary mirror will be equipped with

adaptive optics Adaptive optics (AO) is a technology used to improve the performance of optical systems by reducing the effect of incoming wavefront distortions by deforming a mirror in order to compensate for the distortion. It is used in astronomical tele ...

to compensate for atmospheric turbulence. A third mirror will allow switching between several instruments. There will be a

Cassegrain focus The Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and radio antennas, the main characteristic being that the optical path folds back onto itself, relative to the ...

for the mid-infrared range, a

Nasmyth focus The Nasmyth telescope, also called Nasmyth–Cassegrain or Cassegrain–Nasmyth, is a reflecting telescope developed by the Scottish inventor James Nasmyth. It is a modified form of a Cassegrain telescope, with light reflected sideways to an ey ...

for the near-infrared range and another Nasmyth focus for far-infrared. The project started with site studies in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Road construction to the summit of Cerro Chajnantor started in November 2005. Road was opened April 2006. The miniTAO pilot telescope was constructed in 2009. The construction of the TAO telescope started in 2013. The telescope will have two primary instruments, the MIMIZUKU mid-infrared imager and spectrograph, and SWIMS near-infrared spectrograph. Both instruments were tested at the

Subaru telescope is the telescope of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, located at the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. It is named after the open star cluster known in English as the Pleiades. It had the largest monolithic primary mirror in the wo ...

and achieved first light in the summer of 2018. After testing, the instruments are to be installed into the TAO telescope. In January 2018, the TAO telescope mount construction was completed and the telescope mount assembled in Japan. This was done for testing purposes; the telescope will be disassembled and shipped to Chile at a later date. Ground-breaking ceremonies at the site were held at late 2017.

References

External links

The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory ProjectEnglish translation
includes numerous photos of observatory construction {{Portal bar, Chile, Astronomy, Stars, Spaceflight, Outer space, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in Chile 2009 establishments in Chile

Description

See also

References

External links