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Cerro Pachón

April
Site leveling activities took place on the El Peñón summit of Cerro Pachón in preparation for the LSST. This image shows blast number 20 in April 2011.
Credit: 
C. Claver, NOAO / LSST

Friday, October 2, 2009
Image Credit: 
LSST

LSST organized a conference in La Serena on 29 and 30 September for Architecture and Engineering Companies that have been pre-qualified to provide proposals for the design of the LSST summit facility on Cerro Pachón. The first day of the meeting provided LSST and AURA an opportunity to present background on LSST and the management organization. The second day included a visit to the observatory including stops at the LSST site, Gemini South, and SOAR. The LSST project has required that the facility design for this important part of the project be conducted in Chile. Eight companies, mostly from Santiago, were present at the meetings. Proposals are due at the end of October. The AURA Observatory will provide LSST with the business services to contract with the selected company and will host LSST staff moving to Chile, starting this December, to monitor the technical development locally.

December
The LSST Summit Facility will be located on the Cerro Pachón ridge in north-central Chilé. The entire Cerro Pachón area, including the proposed LSST site and the existing Gemini-south and SOAR telescopes, is within a tract of land owned by AURA Inc. The telescope sites are inland and approximately 100 km by road from the support town of La Serena, proposed location of the LSST Base Facility.
Credit: 
LSST Project Office
December
This view of the full ridge of Cerro Pachón shows the site where the LSST is being constructed on El Peñón. Cerro Pachón is already home to the Gemini South 8-meter telescope and the SOAR 4.1-meter telescope.
Credit: 
C. Claver, NOAO / LSST
December
A panoramic view of the Cerro Pachón ridge in northern Chile. El Peñón, a 8,800-foot (2,682-meter) mountain peak (foreground), is the site for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope. SOAR and Gemini South can be seen in the background.
Credit: 
V. Krabbendam and C. Claver, NOAO / LSST
December
LSST shares the Cerro Pachón ridge with the 8.1-m Gemini south (foreground) and 4.2-m SOAR telescopes.
Credit: 
LSST Project Office

Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Image Credit: 
LSST Project Office

AURA and UCH Reach Innovative Agreement for LSST

The LSST will be built on Cerro Pachón, a mountain located on property owned by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA). AURA is permitted to operate telescopes in Chile because of an agreement reached with the Universidad de Chile (UCH) at the time Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory was established. AURA and UCH, in close consultation with LSST Corp. (LSSTC), have now extended that agreement to cover operations of the LSST. “The goal of all the parties engaged in the negotiation was to ensure that the principles for operation of the LSST would enable full participation of Chilean astronomers in all aspects of the LSST project from planning to analysis of the data,” says Sidney Wolff, LSSTC President.

May

Site Panorama

May 2006 Panorama showing Cerro Pachón, future site of the LSST Telescope

LSST Site Transfer

LSST Summit Facility general contractor, Besalco, has officially taken possession of the Cerro Pachon site in order to begin the construction effort. Going forward, the LSST site now is an active construction site with all of the consequent safety rules and restrictions in effect. In particular, access to the site by project personnel now must be pre-approved by Besalco. Besalco began work in January 2015, mobilizing personnel and equipment and establishing offices and a warehouse on the summit. They are working with their subcontractor Rocterra to remove the final 20,000 cubic meters of material. Excavation for the telescope pier foundation and construction of the road to the telescope main platform are nearing completion. The platform for the calibration telescope is complete.

Financial support for Rubin Observatory comes from the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Cooperative Agreement No. 1258333, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515, and private funding raised by the LSST Corporation. The NSF-funded Rubin Observatory Project Office for construction was established as an operating center under management of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA).  The DOE-funded effort to build the Rubin Observatory LSST Camera (LSSTCam) is managed by the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC).
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 to promote the progress of science. NSF supports basic research and people to create knowledge that transforms the future.
NSF and DOE will continue to support Rubin Observatory in its Operations phase. They will also provide support for scientific research with LSST data.   




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