The Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, also known as the Blanco 4m, is a 4-metre aperture

telescope A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, Absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption, or Reflection (physics), reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally, it was an optical instrument using len ...

located at the

Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an Astronomy, astronomical observatory located on the summit of Mt. Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Mt. Cerro Pachón about to th ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on the summit of Mt. Cerro Tololo. Commissioned in 1974 and completed in 1976, the telescope is identical to the Mayall 4m telescope located on

Kitt Peak Kitt Peak () is a mountain in the U.S. state of Arizona, and at is the highest point in the Quinlan Mountains. It is the location of the Kitt Peak National Observatory. The radio telescope at the observatory is one of ten dishes comprising the ...

. In 1995 it was dedicated and named in honour of Puerto Rican

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

Víctor Manuel Blanco Víctor Manuel Blanco (March 10, 1918 – March 8, 2011) was a Puerto Rican astronomer who in 1959 discovered Blanco 1, a stellar cluster.

. 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 The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is an astronomical facility operated since 1998 by the European Southern Observatory, located on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It consists of four individual telescopes, each equipped with ...

opened. Currently the main research instrument used at the telescope is the ''Dark Energy Camera'' (

DECam The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is an astronomical survey designed to constrain the properties of dark energy. It uses images taken in the near-ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared to measure the expansion of the universe using Type Ia supernov ...

), the camera used in the

Dark Energy Survey The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is an astronomical survey designed to constrain the properties of dark energy. It uses images taken in the near-ultraviolet, Visible spectrum, visible, and near-infrared to measure the expansion of the universe using ...

. DECam saw its first light in September 2012. The Mosaic II camera was used at this CTIO 4-m telescope in the southern hemisphere since 1999. This was a development of the KNPO Mosaic camera installed in 1998 in the northern hemisphere. These cameras were used for various astronomical surveys, and were noted for their success. File:CTIO on the Edge of the World (iotw2331a).jpg, the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter telescope on the summit of Mt. Cerro Tololo (foreground) with many other NOIRLab-operated telescopes File:V%C3%ADctor_M._Blanco_4-meter_Telescope_with_DECam.jpg, alt=Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope with DECam,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victor M. Blanco Telescope Reflecting telescopes NOIRLab Astronomical observatories in Chile Buildings and structures in Coquimbo Region 1976 establishments in Chile

See also

References