SMARTS History

We continue to update the history of SMARTS.  Please contact Todd Henry if you have additional information.

• 19??:  The YALO Consortium was formed by Yale, AURA, U. of Lisbon, and Ohio State University to operate the Yale 1.0m telescope at CTIO.
• 1998B:  YALO queue observations with the optical detector ANDICAM began
• 1999:  the IR array was installed on ANDICAM, enabling simultaneous optical and infared imaging
• 2001: NOAO announced that it would no longer operate the other small telescopes at CTIO as configured at the time (<2.0m)
• 2001 JUL: Charles Bailyn, PI of YALO, approached the community with the idea of forming a larger Consortium to maintain the small telescope capabilities.
• 2001 OCT:  The SMARTS consortium was born at a meeting at the American Museum of Natural History.  The product of that meeting was a commitment on the part of Consortium members to write a proposal to the NSF.
• ??? The NSF proposal was accepted, with the second and third year of operations to be awarded based on the success of the first year's effort.
• 2002 SEP 24:  The YALO 1.0m project finished operations.  ANDICAM moved to the 1.3m for the 2003A observing semester by a team led by Darren DePoy.
• 2003 FEB 01:   SMARTS officially began its operation of the CTIO 0.9-m, 1.3-m and 1.5-m telescopes
• 2003 MAR:  OSU installed a new 12-position filter wheel and CCD at the 1.0m.
• 2003 NOV: SMARTS operations renewed for second and third years.
• 2004 MAY 12:  SMARTS operations at the 1.0m telescope began with the first visiting astronomer.
• 2004 MAY 28:  The first SMARTS queue/service observing block began at the 1.0m telescope.
• 2005 APR:  A new Telescope Control System for the 0.9m was installed.
• 2005 JULY 07:  The Y4KCam began regular observing operations at the 1.0m telescope.
• 2006 JAN 09:  The SMARTS2 Consortium Agreement took effect.
• 2006B:  The SMARTS 1.5m telescope begins to run in full queue mode for the RC Spec and the CPAPIR.

History and pictures of the SMARTS telescopes