The TAO Observatory is located at an altitude of 5,640 meters, equipped with a 6.5-meter diameter telescope, enabling observations of the universe using infrared light.
The Atacama Observatory of the University of Tokyo, or TAO, officially opened its doors, becoming the highest ground-based observatory, as reported by Space on May 1st. This project was conceived 26 years ago with the aim of studying the evolution of galaxies and exoplanets. It is situated on the summit of Cerro Chajnantor, which stands at 5,640 meters in the Andes mountain range of Chile, surpassing the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) telescope system at an altitude of 5,050 meters.
The Atacama Observatory of the University of Tokyo (TAO) is built on the summit of a mountain in the Atacama Desert. (Photo: Atacama Observatory Project of the University of Tokyo).
Cerro Chajnantor means “the place of departure” in the Kunza language of the indigenous Likan Antai community. The high elevation, thin air, and arid climate of this region pose risks to humans but create an ideal environment for infrared telescopes like TAO, as the accuracy of observations requires low humidity—an element that makes the Earth’s atmosphere transparent at infrared wavelengths.
The 6.5-meter telescope of TAO includes two scientific instruments designed to observe the universe using infrared radiation—electromagnetic waves with wavelengths longer than visible light but shorter than microwaves.
- The first instrument, SWIMS, will capture images of galaxies from the early universe to understand how they formed from primordial dust and gas. Many details of this process remain unclear, despite decades of research by scientists.
- The second instrument, MIMIZUKU, will study primordial dust disks that facilitate the formation of stars and galaxies.
“The better the astronomical observations of real objects, the more accurately we can recreate what we see through experiments on Earth,” said Riko Senoo, a researcher at the University of Tokyo.
“I hope the next generation of astronomers will use TAO, along with other ground-based and space telescopes, to make surprising discoveries that challenge current understanding and explain the unexplained,” shared Masahiro Konishi, a researcher at the University of Tokyo.
