Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope

Its optical specifications are: • M1 total diameter 4300mm • Entrance Pupil Diameter 4100mm • Pupil central Obstruction 980mm • M1 working f/# 1.6855 (no prime focus is available) • Focal plane working f/# 16.625 • Effective Focal Length 68176.3mm • Gamma ratio (dZ(foc)/dZ(M2)) 100.5 • Zero-Vignetting Field Diameter 14.4arcmin • Focal Plane Radius of curvature 966.3mm • Sag w/r to Maximum Field 10.59mm == Instruments ==

Current (5/2014) instruments are: • UV–optical 16-million pixel imager (SOI, CTIO) • near-infrared (1–2.4 μm wavelength) 1-million pixel HgCdTe imager and spectrograph (OSIRIS, Ohio State University/CTIO) • UV–optical 16-million pixel imager and spectrograph (Goodman Spectrograph, UNC) • near-infrared (1–2.4 μm wavelength) 16-million pixel HgCdTe imager (SPARTAN, MSU) • adaptive optics module (SAM, CTIO) Additional facility instruments are being commissioned: • UV–optical 16-million pixel integral-field spectrograph (SIFS, Brazil) User instruments are employed by individual astronomers or teams but not available to all users. US astronomers access the telescope remotely over the Internet 2. Chilean and Brazilian astronomers use their high-speed networks. An on-site operator controls where the telescope points while the remote astronomer controls the instrument and data retrieval. The SOAR telescope dome is a $2 million, , weatherproof structure weighing over 70 tons. == Gallery ==

File:SOAR_Below_the_Milky_Way.jpg| File:Star_Trails_over_SOAR.jpg| == See also ==