SMARTS History

We are trying to reconstruct some of the history of SMARTS, but it is incomplete.  Please help us fill in the details!  Contact victoria [dot] gardneratyale [dot] edu (subject: SMARTS%20History) (Victoria Gardner) if you have any information that could help us.
 
  • 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
  • July 1999:  the IR array was installed on ANDICAM, enabling simultaneous optical and infared imaging
  • ??  The University of Lisbon left YALO.
  • ?? NOAO announced that it would no longer operate the other small telescopes at CTIO (<2.0m)
  • ??  Charles Bailyn, PI of YALO, approached the community with the idea of forming a larger consortium to maintain the small telescope capabilities.
  • October 2001:  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 the 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.
  • 24 September 2002:  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.
  • October-November 2002:  New cameras were installed at the 1.5-m and 0.9-m.
  • 1 February 2003:   SMARTS officially began its operation of the CTIO 0.9-m, 1.3-m and 1.5-m telescopes
  • March 2003:  OSU installed a new 12-position filter wheel and CCD at the 1.0m.
  • 12 May 2004:  SMARTS operations at the 1.0m telescope began with the first visiting astronomer.
  • 28 May 2004:  The first SMARTS queue/service observing block began at the 1.0m telescope.
  • April 2005:  A new Telescope Control System for the 0.9m was installed.
  • 7-8 July 2005:  The Y4KCam began regular observing operations at the 1.0m telescope.
  • 9 January 2006:  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