OPEN
CLOSED
SOUTH AFRICA
Southern African
Large Telescope
TEXAS
Hobby-Eberly Telescope
Harlan J. Smith Telescope
CALIFORNIA
Nickel Telescope
Shane Telescope
Hooker Telescope
Hale Telescope
NEW MEXICO
ARC Telescope
SDSS Telescope
ARIZONA
WIYN Telescope
Mayall Telescope
MMT Telescope
LBT
CALDERA DE TABURIENTE
Gran Telescopio Canarias
Isaac Newton Telescope
William Herschel Telescope
Nordic Optical Telescope
Telescopio Nazionale Galileo
CANARY
ISLANDS
CERRO PARANAL
VISTA
Kueyen Telescope
Melipal Telescope
Antu Telescope
Yepun Telescope
CERRO MANQUI
du Pont Telescope
Magellan Telescopes
AUSTRALIA
Anglo-Australian
Telescope
MAUNA KEA
UKIRT
Subaru Telescope
CFH Telescope
Gemini North
NASA IRTF
Keck I and II Telescopes
CHILE
LA SILLA
New Technology
Telescope
ESO 3.6-meter
Telescope
CERRO TOLOLO
Victor Blanco Telescope
CERRO PACHÓN
SOAR Telescope
Gemini South Telescope
CALAR ALTO
1.23-meter Telescope
2.2-meter Telescope
3.5-meter Telescope
Schmidt Telescope
RUSSIA
Bolshoi Azimuthal
Telescope
HALEAKALA
Pan-STARRS
SPAIN
HAWAII
historians say nothing like this has hap-
pened in the modern era of astronomy.
Even during the chaos of World War II,
telescopes kept observing.
But although modern observatories
are more automated, few can safely
operate during a pandemic. “We do
have some remote options, but the large
fraction of our astronomers still go to
the telescopes,” says Mulchaey, who also
oversees Las Campanas Observatory in
Chile and its Magellan Telescopes. “It’s
not as automated as you might think.”
However, astronomers still say they’re
confident they can find solutions to
reopen observatories. In April, Tony
Beasley, the National Radio Astronomy
Observatory (NRAO) director, said his
team was working on a long list of what
they’re calling “VSDs,” or violation of
social distancing problems. Their
workarounds typically involve finding
ways to have one person do something
that used to take an entire team.
NRAO operates the Very Large Array
in New Mexico and the global Very Long
Baseline Array. Beasley is also vice presi-
dent for Radio Astronomy Operations
for Associated Universities Inc., which
operates the Green Bank Telescope in
West Virginia. All three are still observ-
ing, thanks to remote operations and a
reimagined workflow. Although the new
workf low is not as efficient as it was in
the past, at the time of this writing, there
haven’t been any problems that couldn’t
be solved. And Beasley and others think
more interesting and valuable lessons
could still come out of the catastrophe.
“There’s always been kind of a sense
that you had to be in the building, and
you’ve got to stare the other people down
in the meeting,” he says. “In the space of
a month, I think everyone is surprised at
how effective they can be remotely. As we
get better at this over the next six months
or something, I think there will be parts
where we won’t go back to some of the
work processes from before.” — ERIC BETZ
WWW.ASTRONOMY.COM 11
Despite widespread telescope closures
due to COVID-19, there’s no need to worry
about an incoming asteroid — at least, not
any more than usual. Earth’s top asteroid-
hunting instruments remain on the prowl
for potentially deadly space rocks.
NASA funds most major asteroid-hunting
efforts. The space agency has a congres-
sional mandate to find some 90 percent
of near-Earth objects larger than 460 feet
(140 meters) across. These objects consist
of comets and asteroids that get a little too
close for comfort.
The effort’s workhorse instruments are
Hawaii’s twin Panoramic Survey Telescope
and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS)
telescopes, as well as the three Catalina
Sky Survey telescopes in Arizona. Both of
those efforts continue. Likewise, NEOWISE,
a NASA space telescope repurposed to hunt
for near-Earth objects, is also still operating.
“We are an essential service, funded
by NASA, to help protect the Earth from
[an] asteroid impact,” says Ken Chambers,
director of the Pan-STARRS Observatories
in Hawaii. “We will continue that mission
as long as we can do so without putting
people or equipment at risk.”
Earth will get hit with a major asteroid
again; it’s just a question of when. And
that’s why astronomers think it’s important
to keep a constant watch, even during a
pandemic. Fortunately, there’s only a slim
chance humanity will have to face two
global crises at once. And that’s something
we can all be happy about. — E.B.
The search for dangerous asteroids continues
ACROSS THE MAP. The world’s premier optical
telescopes, shown here, had shut down in
droves by early April. Construction also halted
at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory site in Chile.
Sites that remained open at the end of April
appear in green. The Gemini North Telescope in
Hawaii reopened May 19 as the largest optical
telescope taking data. ASTRONOMY: ROEN KELLY
EARTH’S LARGEST OPTICAL TELESCOPES