FACT
SHEET - SOAR TELESCOPE
- The Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope is a
4.1-meter telescope designed to produce the best quality images of
any observatory in its class in the world.
- The SOAR Telescope is located nearly 9,000 feet above sea
level on Cerro Pachón, at the western edge of the Andes
Mountains in Chile. This remote peak, one of the best observing
sites in the world, provides clear, dry air which minimizes image
distortion and enhances infrared observations.
- The project is funded by a partnership between Michigan State
University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the
U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatories, and the country of
Brazil. The nation of Chile is a de facto partner.
- Total cost of the project is $43 million, including $32
million for initial construction and 18 years of operations costs.
MSU provided $6 million of the construction cost. In return, MSU
astronomers will have 12 percent of the available observing time
per year, or approximately 40 nights.
- MSU astronomers will use the SOAR Telescope to study dark
energy (supernovae and galaxy clusters), dark matter (evolution of
structures, galaxies and galaxy clusters) and chemical evolution
(stellar processes, elemental abundances in ancient stars, and
evolution of stellar populations).
- The SOAR Telescope simultaneously operates multiple
instruments to increase efficiency and provide astronomers a suite
of tools to enhance observations. SOAR's instruments include:
- The Goodman Spectrograph for visible wavelength
spectroscopy
- The Optical Bench Spectrometer for integrated field unit
spectroscopy
- The SOAR Optical Imager
- The Phoenix Infrared Echelle Spectrograph
- The Ohio State Infrared Imaging Spectrograph
- The Spartan Infrared Camera
- The Spartan Infrared Camera was designed and built at MSU. It
will give astronomers the ability to view stars, galaxies and
other objects whose images are much harder to see at visible
wavelengths due to absorption by interstellar dust or because the
light of distant objects is red-shifted to infrared
wavelengths.
- The telescope's primary mirror is 4.1 meters in diameter and
10 centimeters thick. The mirror is supported by 120
electromechanical force feedback actuators. The optical train also
included light-weight glass secondary and tertiary mirrors, and a
fast tip-tilt gimbal for the tertiary mirror for first-order
wavefront corrections at 50 Hertz.
- A remote observing room, located in MSU's Biomedical and
Physical Sciences Building, will allow astronomers and students to
see the images captured by the SOAR Telescope.
- The room has two high-resolution projectors displaying a view
of the SOAR control panels that is 12 feet wide by 5 feet high.
This display will include images captured by the SOAR instruments,
and views of the Southern Hemisphere night sky from Cerro
Pachón, allowing visitors to easily look over the
shoulders of the working astronomers.