Accession A2004-0023 - University of Toronto. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics

1.92 m of textual records (4 boxes)

The Las Campanas Observatory was also known as the Canadian Telescope in Chile. The University of Toronto Canadian Telescope was inaugurated on Las Campanas, Chile in 1974. University of Toronto astronomers, Robert Garrison, Rene Racine, and Sidney Venderberg, were responsible for developing and implementing the project. Through the cooperation of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the University of Toronto was able to make arrangements to share the site. In addition to a dome that houses the U. of T telescope, the University build Casa Canadiense, a small residence / operation centre. The telescope was made possible through the National Research Council of Canada. The dome and residence were financed from the C.A. Chant bequest to the David Dunlop Observatory. Las Campanas has provided much research material to astronomers; while on the mountain in 1987, Ian Shelton discovered the Supernova 1987A. Due to rising costs and decreased funding, the University closed the Las Campanas operation in 1997 and the Department of Astronomy shipped the telescope to Argentina, where it remains today on permanent loan.

Contains correspondence, work diaries, nightly observing summaries, Time Application Committee files, and project files for the Las Campanas Observatory, the Canadian Telescope in Chile. Also included are two drawings of the Las Campanas buildings - one of the dome and the other of Casa Canadiense, the residence.

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