Telescopes I've Seen - Las Campanas Observatory

Las Campanas Observatory, Chile


Cerro Las Campanas

This picture only just counts, being a long shot across the valley from ESO. Aside from how close the two mountains are, you can see the major domes at Las Campanas. The largest is the 2.5-meter DuPont reflector, used to great effect initially to complete the photographic survey of Shapley-Ames bright galaxies which eventually appeared as the Carnegie Atlas. It has also seen service in large-scale redshift surveys. The smaller dome houses the 1-meter Swope reflector, which has been used for detailed studies of globular clusters via their variable-star populations. The University of Toronto long operated a 60-cm telescope at Las Campanas, which is what Ian Shelton was taking a break from operating when he discovered the 1987 supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Las Campanas was originally shared between the Carnegie Institution of Washington and Caltech, and ended up as Carnegie's major dark-sky facility after the Great Divorce (with apologies to C.S. Lewis). Las Campanas is the construction site for the twin 6.5-meter Magellan telescopes.


Telescope Collection

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