Las Campanas Observatory

Las Campanas Observatory
	Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory
Alternative names	LCO
Organization	Carnegie Institution for Science ;
Observatory code	304, I05
Location	Atacama Region, Chile
Coordinates	29°00′57″S 70°41′31″W / 29.01597°S 70.69208°W
Altitude	2,380 m (7,810 ft)
Established	1969
Website	www.lco.cl
Telescopes	Du Pont Telescope; Swope Telescope; Warsaw Telescope; Giant Magellan Telescope; Magellan Telescopes ;
	Location of Las Campanas Observatory
	Related media on Commons
	[edit on Wikidata]

Las Campanas Observatory (LCO) is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS). It is in the southern Atacama Desert of Chile in the Atacama Region approximately 100 kilometres (62 mi) northeast of the city of La Serena. The LCO telescopes and other facilities are near the north end of a 7 km (4.3 mi) long mountain ridge. Cerro Las Campanas, near the southern end and over 2,500 m (8,200 ft) high, is the future home of the Giant Magellan Telescope.^[1]

LCO was established in 1969 and is the primary observing facility of CIS. It supplanted Mount Wilson Observatory in that role due to increasing light pollution in the Los Angeles area. The headquarters of Carnegie Observatories is located in Pasadena, California, while the main office in Chile is in La Serena next to the University of La Serena and a short distance from the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy facility.^[2]

It is served by Pelicano Airport, 23 kilometres (14 mi) to the southwest.

^ Overbye, D., Zegers, M. (April 18, 2023), "A Giant Telescope Grows in Chile", The New York Times, retrieved 22 April 2023
^ Cite error: The named reference COBSABT was invoked but never defined (see the help page).