MELBOURNE, FLA.—Remote access to a telescope in the Andes Mountains of Chile gives a select group of astronomers and their students, including those at Florida Institute of Technology, newly acquired peeks into the wonders of the Southern Hemisphere's nighttime sky.
Researchers at 10 higher education institutions in six states, including Florida Tech, recently began pointing and focusing a 24-inch telescope in Chile without having to leave their respective campuses. Access to the telescope comes by virtue of the institution's membership in the Southeastern Association for Research and Astronomy (SARA).
The consortium has operated a one-meter telescope at Kitt Peak, Ariz., since 1993; the new addition offers members access to the entire sky, including many of the most interesting celestial objects, which are never seen from North America.
The telescope in Chile was formerly operated by Lowell Observatory in Arizona and was closed by Cerro Tololo in 1996. SARA invested about $250,000 in upgrades to make the telescope remotely accessible over the Internet.
"We've gained regular access to the section of the sky that never rises in North America," said Terry Oswalt, head of the Florida Tech Department of Physics and Space Sciences, and chairman of the SARA board of directors. "Consistent access to this telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory provides us and our students with teaching and research possibilities not previously possible."
In order of membership, SARA consortium members include Florida Tech, East Tennessee State University, Valdosta State University, Florida International University, Clemson University, Ball State University, Agnes Scott College, the University of Alabama, Valparaiso University and Butler University.
The group formed in 1992 with Florida Tech, East Tennessee State University, the University of Georgia (which left the group in 2006) and Valdosta University.
Astronomers from each institution gain access to the telescope through a secure Internet connection, and each institution's researchers will control the equipment for approximately three nights each month.
For roughly the cost of a few nights of viewing on a very powerful telescope, SARA collaborators instead get about 30 days of time a year. All those extra nights of viewing and the addition of a telescope in the Southern Hemisphere open a host of new opportunities to pursue longer-term and more risky projects.
The consortium operates both telescopes under an agreement with the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, which are funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF, through a grant to East Tennessee State University, recently approved matching instrumentation upgrades and enhancements for the cameras to be used on both telescopes.
"The 30 astronomy researchers and 10 institutions that make up SARA form a virtual astronomy department that is as large s many major astronomy departments in the United States," said Oswalt. Florida Tech is the administrative institution for the 10-school SARA consortium.
The National Optical Astronomy Observatories maintains Kitt Peak National Observatory, home to the world's largest collection of telescopes, and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.