FIU astronomers set their sights on southern skies


For the first time, FIU astronomers can explore the skies of the Southern Hemisphere without ever leaving Miami.

The Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA), a consortium of 10 universities, recently launched a refurbished and automated telescope at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory on a remote peak in the Andes Mountains of Chile. Christened SARA-South, the new telescope allows SARA astronomers to explore parts of the sky that are not visible from telescopes in the United States. Since 1993, the consortium has operated SARA-North, a telescope located at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.

SARA-South is located at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.

“We now have the ability to study interesting objects that cannot be seen from Northern hemisphere observatories, including the galactic center,” said James Webb, director of SARA-North and physics professor at FIU.  “In addition to the cornucopia of new objects accessible to us, the new telescope opens up many additional avenues of research than we had before by using the telescopes to work together. This is a very exciting time for astronomy and physics at FIU.”

Each SARA institution is entitled to approximately three nights per month on the telescope.

In addition to FIU, the SARA consortium includes Florida Institute of Technology, East Tennessee State University, Valdosta State University, Clemson University, Ball State University, Agnes Scott College, The University of Alabama, Valparaiso University and Butler University.  The consortium operates both telescopes under agreement with the National Science Foundation, which recently funded additional instrumentation upgrades and new high-efficiency cameras for both SARA telescopes.  Additional information about SARA can be found at www.saraobservatory.org

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