Cerro Armazones Observatory (Spanish: ''Observatorio Cerro Armazones,'' OCA; German: ''Observatorium Cerro Armazones,'' OCA) was an

astronomical Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, ...

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. H ...

owned and operated jointly by the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...

(RUB) and the

Catholic University of the North Catholic University of the North ( Spanish: ''Universidad Católica del Norte'' (UCN)) is a university in Chile. It is part of the Chilean Traditional Universities. It is located in Antofagasta, Chile. The Catholic University of the North was ...

(UCN). It was established in 1995 on the slopes of Cerro Armazones, a mountain in the

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region ( es, Región de Antofagasta, ) is one of Chile's sixteen first-order administrative divisions. The second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla. It is border ...

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 eas ...

. The observatory is located 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 ...

about south of the city of

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American ...

. Unlike many other observatories, OCA is not located at the highest point of its host mountain. Instead, it was in a

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

approximately below the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...

and to the southwest. This location has been given up due to the vicinity of the ELT construction site in January 2014. The Telescopes of the Bochum university, installed after 2006, are no longer operational. They are located further to the west and higher than the original OCA observatory, on a subsidiary peak of Cerro Armazones, Cerro Murphy. The coordinates here are those of this summit now. On 26 April 2010, the

European Southern Observatory The European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, commonly referred to as the European Southern Observatory (ESO), is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental research organisation made up of 16 mem ...

Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned

European Extremely Large Telescope The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) is an Observatory#Astronomical observatories, astronomical observatory currently under construction. When completed, it is planned to be the world's largest Optical telescope, optical/Infrared#Regions within ...

. The telescope will be located at the summit of the mountain at an altitude of . Currently the mountain top is flattened for this purpose and a new access road has been built.

Telescopes

* The Hexapod-Telescope reflector is named for its unusual mount, consisting of six high-precision struts supporting a platform to which the telescope is attached. It was developed and tested by RUB in Germany, and moved to Cerro Armazones in 2006. * A

Newtonian telescope The Newtonian telescope, also called the Newtonian reflector or just a Newtonian, is a type of reflecting telescope invented by the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton, using a concave primary mirror and a flat diagonal secondary mirror. Newton' ...

made by Halfmann Teleskoptechnik was installed by UCN in 1995. It has been dismounted in the meanwhile due to the vicinity to the ELT construction site and is currently at ESO Paranal for refurbishing. * The Infra Red Imaging Survey telescope is a Nasmyth

reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...

on an alt-azimuth mount. It was made by Halfmann Teleskoptechnik and installed in 2010. * A reflector made by

Meade Instruments The Meade Instruments (also shortened to Meade) is an American multinational company headquartered in Watsonville, California, that manufactures, imports, and distributes telescopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, microscopes, CCD cameras, and ...

is owned by UCN. It has been dismounted in the meanwhile due to the vicinity to the ELT construction site and is currently at UCN downtown in Antofagasta to be installed in a new dome near Sirius in the campus for public activities. * The Berlin Exoplanet Search Telescope II (BESTII) reflector made by

Takahashi Seisakusho is a Japanese manufacturer of telescopes and related equipment (such as eyepieces and equatorial mounts) founded in 1932 by Kitaro Takahashi in Tokyo. Originally started as a foundry, Takahashi began manufacturing optical equipment after WWII in ...

was installed in 2007 and is owned by the

DLR Institute for Planetary Research The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

. * The Robotic Bochum Twin Telescope (RoBoTT - former VYSOS-6) telescopes are two refractors made by

on a common German equatorial mount. * The Bochum Monitoring Telescope (BMT) telescopes is a Newton reflector.

References

External links

Astronomisches Institut
at Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Instituto de Astronomía
at Universidad Católica del Norte {{Portal bar, Chile, Stars, Spaceflight, Solar System, Education, Science Astronomical observatories in Chile Buildings and structures in Antofagasta Region European Southern Observatory 1995 establishments in Chile

Telescopes

See also

References

External links