SMARTS: Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System


***** SMARTS CLOSURE *****

AURA forced a closure of all four SMARTS telescopes, effective at the end of FY2023.

We at SMARTS were informed of the closure on 12 SEP 2023. All 1.5m data were pipelined and delivered by 07 NOV 2023. We have continued to work with AURA to resolve outstanding issues to reopen SMARTS telescopes. After delivering three drafts of agreements, AURA remains unable to address issues on their side.

We remain ready and able to continue operations and would like to see the science continue to flow from all four SMARTS telescopes, but AURA will not allow us to secure observations for you at this time.

Todd Henry, SMARTS Director

Wei-Chun Jao, SMARTS 1.5m Operations Manager


***** SMARTS TIME AVAILABLE *****

0.9m time at $600/night ..... 1.5m time at $200/hour


Observing time is available through the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System Consortium ( SMARTS ) for you or your institution on the CTIO/SMARTS 1.5m and 0.9m telescopes. Partnerships can be with institutions, individuals, or groups of individuals. We also welcome international partners. Time can be purchased for as little as a few thousand dollars, up to major partners contributing $50K or more.

The 0.9m is currently equipped with a optical imaging camera with a field of 16.8 arcmin and pixels 0.401 arcsec on the sky. See SMARTS Overview (Subasavage et al. 2010) for details on the 0.9m telescope and imaging camera. Time is scheduled for user observing runs (you travel to the telescope in Chile) that span a few nights or weeks. The cost is $600/night and scheduling is quite flexible. Time on the 0.9m is particularly useful for graduate and undergraduate training and observing experience. Please contact Todd Henry at thenry[at symbol]astro[dot]gsu[dot]edu for 0.9m programs.

The 1.5m is currently equipped with the CHIRON high resolution spectrograph, which is described at SMARTS 1.5m . Time is scheduled via service observing runs (SMARTS staff do the observing for you) over one or more semesters for time-domain science with highly flexible cadences. The cost is $200/hour. Please contact Todd Henry at thenry[at symbol]astro[dot]gsu[dot]edu for 1.5m programs.

For safety reasons, it is highly recommended that observers traveling overnight from the U.S. to Santiago, then to La Serena, spend at least 1 night in La Serena before taking the 2-hour trip up the mountain to the telescopes the next day. SMARTS requires that visiting observers spend 1-2 nights at any of the telescopes to learn how to properly open and close the facility and to carry out the protocols needed to make observations throughout the night.


0.9m SMARTS Observing Schedule

0.9m Observers --- Key Information

0.9m Details 1.5m SMARTS Observing Schedule 1.5m Observers --- Key Information 1.5m Details 1.5m SMARTS Results SMARTS General Information CTIO General Information 0.9m SMARTS Observing Schedules --- Past

The photo at the top of the page was taken by Matthias Dietrich on the night of 24 April 2003 using a Canon camera with 15 mm lens (focal ratio 2.8), exposing for 90 minutes on Fuji ASA 200 film. Three SMARTS telescopes can be seen: the CTIO 0.9m is on the right, the Yale 1.0m is on the left, and the CTIO 1.5m is second from the right. The fuzzy reddish region in the upper left and center is the light from the Milky Way Galaxy.

 
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