Code I09 | Established 1995 | |
Organization Ruhr University Bochum and
Catholic University of the North Location Antofagasta Region, Chile Altitude 2,810 metres (9,220 ft) Website AIRUB - Observatorio Cerro Armazones | ||
Cerro Armazones Observatory (Spanish: Observatorio Cerro Armazones, OCA; German: Observatorium Cerro Armazones, OCA) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated jointly by the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB) and the Catholic University of the North (UCN). It was established in 1995 on the slopes of Cerro Armazones, a mountain in the Antofagasta Region of Chile. The observatory is located in the Atacama Desert about 110 kilometres (68 mi) south of the city of Antofagasta. Unlike many other observatories, OCA is not located at the highest point of its host mountain. Instead, it was in a saddle approximately 340 metres (1,120 ft) below the summit and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the southwest. This location has been given up due to the vicinity of the ELT construction site in January 2014. The Telescopes of the Bochum university, installed after 2006, are still fully operational, and are located 500 metres (1,600 ft) further to the west and 100 metres (330 ft) higher than the original OCA observatory, on a subsidiary peak of Cerro Armazones, Cerro Murphy. The coordinates here are those of this summit now.
On 26 April 2010, the European Southern Observatory Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned European Extremely Large Telescope. The telescope will be located at the summit of the mountain at an altitude of 3,060 metres (10,040 ft). Currently the mountain top is flattened for this purpose and a new access road has been built.