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Carl Sagan Observatory at Cerro
Azul DIF-FUS Universidad de sonora |
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 The 'Carl Sagan' Project contemplates the creation of infrastructure for astronomical observation in the top of 'Cerro Azul', located 40 km Northeast of Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, the equipment will be operated and controlled for the observation as much from the University Campus of Hermosillo, Sonora as from a base located in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, in which it would be the first observatory of the country working totally remote controlled. The equipment that will be installed in 'Cerro Azul' is a telescope specially designed for this project, a reflecting type Cassegrain with opening of 30 cm vacuum sealed. Its optics will be polished using polished technology used in X ray observation until now not used in any Earth observatory. The telescope will have the possibility to observe day and night sky for projects of solar and stellar observation. The Station of Solar Observation, EOS, operating in the university campus, will stay with its program registering and monitoring the solar activity. In the campus of the University in Hermosillo a prototype of the Observatory is been constructed, the finished building will allow to carry out tests and adjustments of the previous systems before the transfer to the mountain. Later, this enclosure will be used as base of control and operation of the observatory and the EOS will be transferred to the same one. The possibility of remote controlled operation using a modern system of communication that allows the broadcast of video, audio and data, reducing the costs as much of construction as operation of the Observatory in compare with the conventional observatories where all the infrastructure is in the mountain, very expensive and difficult for maintainance. The resources for the construction of this observatory do not reach $200.000 USD. In comparison, other solar observatories projects have costs that reach $ 6 million USD. This page is under construction since August 10, 1999.
Last Update: January 22, 2000. |