Alistair Walker and Pat Seitzer
CTIO and the University of Michigan regret to inform you that the Curtis Schmidt telescope on Cerro Tololo will be available to general users only through the end of the 2001A semester. For the 2001B semester, it will be used by University of Michigan astronomers only, and at the end of that semester it will be closed. The global situation regarding the facilities available at CTIO is discussed in the accompanying article, "CTIO Telescope and Instrument Combinations--The Future."
The Schmidt telescope with SITe 2K CCD covering 1.5 deg2 has proven to be a powerful combination for many programs and is a facility still unique in the Southern Hemisphere. Parties interested in the future of the Curtis Schmidt should contact Pat Seitzer at the Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan (seitzer@astro.lsa.umich.edu).