2019-12-01_Astronomy

WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 51

On July 4, while those in

the U.S. were celebrating

Independence Day with cookouts

and fireworks, we set off for an

arid, mountainous region in cen-

tral Chile about 30 miles (50 km)

southeast of La Serena. This loca-

tion, thanks to its dark skies and

calm atmosphere, is home to the

Cerro Tololo Inter-American

Observatory (CTIO).

Upon our arrival at CTIO,

located some 7,200 feet (2,200 m)

above sea level, we took in the

expansive views from the moun-

taintop before beginning our

tour. Over the course of the next

few hours, we were treated to a

behind-the-scenes look at CTIO’s

two biggest telescopes: the 1.5-

meter SMARTS telescope, part of

the Small and Moderate Aperture

Research Telescope System, and

the famous 4-meter Victor M.

Blanco Telescope.

The Blanco Telescope, which

saw first light in 1976, was an

observational beast in its heyday.

And though newer telescopes

have since greatly surpassed

Blanco in size, thanks to the rela-

tively recent installation of its

sophisticated Dark Energy

Camera (DECam), Blanco is once

again making valuable contribu-

tions to astronomy.

DECam, which sports a

roughly 500-megapixel camera

and a massive 2.2° field of view, is

a vital part of the Dark Energy

Survey, an international collabo-

ration that spent the past six years

mapping hundreds of millions of

galaxies in visible and near-

infrared light. The ultimate goal

of the survey is to unravel the

true nature of dark energy, the

mysterious force that accounts for

nearly 70 percent of the mass-

energy of the universe and is

responsible for the accelerating

expansion of our cosmos.

The end of our tour of Cerro

Tololo also signaled the end of

our adventure through Peru and

Chile. Although the entire jour-

ney took less than two weeks, the

historical and astronomical sites

— and sights — we experienced

throughout will remain burned in

my mind for the rest of my life.

Jake Parks is an associate

editor at Astronomy who has now

experienced two solar eclipses —

and he likely won’t stop chasing

them anytime soon.

1. The behemoth Blanco
   Telescope was rather
   recently retooled with the
   Dark Energy Camera, which
   saw first light in September


2. JAKE PARKS


3. The Moore family poses in
   front of the Victor M. Blanco
   4-meter Telescope atop
   Cerro Tololo Inter-American
   Observatory. JAKE PARKS


4. The Milky Way spans the
   night sky above Peru’s
   Sacred Valley of the Incas.
   The two bright stars Alpha
   and Beta Centauri (middle
   right) point the way to the
   Southern Cross, which is
   setting behind the ridge at
   the right edge of the frame.
   STEPHEN MOORE


5. The SMARTS
   1.5-meter telescope is the
   largest of a suite of SMARTS
   telescopes perched atop
   Cerro Tololo. JAKE PARKS

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