By the time you read this, the site of the new SOAR 4m telescope on Cerro Pachón will be leveled off and waiting for building to begin. The map shows the future location of the telescope, about 400 m NE of the Gemini South telescope on the extreme upwind end of the Cerro Pachón ridge. As can be seen from the wind rose shown on the map, this location is almost a perfect "knife-edge" cutting into the prevailing wind. The map also shows several other potential telescope sites that have been identified along the ridge. Cerro Pachón is 11 kms line of sight SE of Cerro Tololo.
The photo shows the progress on leveling the site as of 24 January. By the end of February, 14,000 m3 of rock will have been removed to produce a flat platform at an elevation of 2701m above sea level. An ex-post-facto "groundbreaking" ceremony is scheduled for 17 April. We expect the telescope to go into service in late 2001. SOAR is a joint project involving Brazil, The Michigan State University, The University of North Carolina and NOAO. For more details, follow the link to "SOAR 4m Telescope Project" on the CTIO home page (http://www.ctio.noao.edu).
Jack Baldwin (jbaldwin@noao.edu)