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Wide-angle View of the Milky Way
Wide-angle view of the Milky Way in the direction of its center. The teapot of the constellation Sagittarius is in view. This image was taken at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
More about this Image
The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) provides qualified scientists with telescopes and related facilities for astronomical research in the Southern Hemisphere. CTIO has offices, laboratories and living quarters in the coastal city of La Serena, Chile, 482 kilometers north of Santiago. The observing facilities are on Cerro Tololo, a 2,194-meter mountain on the western slopes of the Andes, 64 kilometers inland from La Serena.
CTIO operates the 4-meter Blanco Telescope, which is a near twin to the 4-meter Mayall at Kitt Peak, and a general purpose 1.5-meter reflector. These telescopes are equipped with instruments similar to those at KPNO. Several other telescopes operated by U.S. universities are also located on Cerro Tololo. A new technology 4-meter telescope (Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research-SOAR) is under construction on nearby Cerro Pachon.
CTIO is one of several observatories that make up the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO), a national center for research in ground-based optical and infrared astronomy, supported by the National Science Foundation.
Credit: NOAO (National Optical Astronomy Observatory)
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