On 17 April, under gloriously clear skies, which we trust are a harbinger of the great observing conditions to come, the cornerstone of the new SOAR 4-m telescope was laid on Cerro Pachón. The ceremony was attended by some 80 people including Chilean astronomers, local dignitaries, members of the press, and representatives from SOAR's four member institutions: Brazil, NOAO, Michigan State University, and the University of North Carolina. President Clinton, in his speech to the Chilean National Congress, also on 17 April, noted that "On this very day.....work [starts] on a powerful new telescope in northern Chile. Their astronomers will look up to the heavens, gazing deep into outer space and, therefore, deep into the past....."
17 April was the not-the-groundbreaking ceremony, because the ground had already been fully broken to prepare the platform for the telescope (Figure 1). This area encompasses approximately 35m by 150m at the extreme NE end of the Cerro Pachón ridge, on a site about 400m from the Gemini-South 8-m telescope and facing into the prevailing winds so as to ensure the best possible seeing. Preliminary measurements made on the prepared site show very smooth airflow characteristics down to heights of 3-7m above the ground. This site will be occupied by the 4-m telescope in a dome approximately 16m in diameter (roughly the size of the CTIO 1.5-m's dome), and by a support building extending downwind from the dome.
Figure 1. The SOAR site, looking northwards (into the prevailing wind) from below the Gemini-South enclosure. The terrain drops off for thousands of feet on the NE through W sides of the site, and for several hundred feet on the E side. Site leveling had been completed at this time and the dump truck was laying down a thin cap of dirt.
The "cornerstone," a large piece of pink Cerro Pachón stone, was symbolically lowered into a seat which had been cut into the site platform. Figure 2 shows the cornerstone ready for action, with the SOAR Interim Board of Directors looking on. Acting Board Chair Sidney Wolff had the pleasure of figuring out how to actually operate the hydraulic lowering-mechanism. After a few brief speeches and glasses of champagne, we all moved over to the dining hall on Cerro Tololo for a festive meal complete with further remarks from distinguished personages. The prize for the shortest speech was set by Gene Capriotti (MSU), who had a plane to catch. Figure 3 shows the two leaders in the actual design and construction of the telescope: Project Manager Tom Sebring and Project Scientist Gerald Cecil.
Figure 2. The SOAR cornerstone waiting to be lowered into place, and the SOAR Board of Directors waiting to do so. Board members are (left to right): Sidney Wolff (NOAO and Acting Chair); Joao Steiner (Brazil); Gene Capriotti (Michigan State, standing in for Paul Hunt); and Bruce Carney (North Carolina).
Figure 3. SOAR Project Manager Tom Sebring (left) and Project Scientist Gerald Cecil (right), in a routine discussion of engineering-science tradeoffs. The rock survived the experience.
The project is now moving forward at a fast and accelerating pace. Under contracts with SOAR, several experienced companies are producing conceptual designs for the mount, the active optics system (including providing and figuring the primary, secondary and tertiary mirrors), and the building. The differing approaches suggested by these studies will be reviewed at a conceptual design review to be held in early June, at which point specifications will be drawn up for bids for final design and construction contracts for these major subsystems. It is expected that these final contracts will be let by the start of 1999, and that the telescope will arrive in Chile and be assembled during 2001. The shares of observing time with the completed telescope will then be approximately: NOAO 30%; Brazil 30%; MSU 15%; UNC 15%; Chile 10%.
J. Baldwin (jbaldwin@noao.edu),
M. Smith (msmith@noao.edu)