Seeing Double?

No, you are not seeing double in this panorama of telescopes that make up the SMARTS (Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System) Consortium at the U.S. National Science Foundation Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab. Though they look similar from the outside, the SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter Telescope (left) and the SMARTS–GSU 1.5-meter Telescope (right) have slightly different observing roles. 

The SMARTS–GSU 1.5-meter telescope hosts a special instrument called CHIRON. This spectrograph measures precise radial velocities to confirm the existence of stellar companions. The SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter telescope, on the other hand, is fitted with the Tek2K instrument, a charge-coupled device (CCD) used for creating astronomical images. 

Both the SMARTS–GSU 0.9-meter and the SMARTS–GSU 1.5-meter are primarily used for the RECONS (REsearch Consortium On Nearby Stars) program, which measures the distances to nearby stars and detects unseen companions by using a variety of observational techniques. RECONS has been performing these observations for 25 years, creating an unprecedented catalog of star measurements.

In the background, the Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope can be seen on the far left and the US Naval Observatory Deep South Telescope and DIMM2 Seeing Monitor on the far right. 

A different perspective of this evening can be found in panoramic and fulldome formats.

This photo was taken as part of the NOIRLab 2022 Photo Expedition to all the NOIRLab sites. Petr Horálek, the photographer, is a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.