Carolina astronomers are facing a dilemma — where, in all the sky, should they point the new SOAR telescope for its "first light?" A tough question, sure, but it’s a night of leisurely star-gazing compared to the 10 years of work that have led up to this point.

A decade ago astronomers at UNC-Chapel Hill and Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, which is run by the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatories, set out to build a high-performance astronomical telescope in the Chilean Andes Mountains. In 1996, Brazil and Michigan State University joined the partnership.

Now, the SOAR (Southern Observatory for Astrophysical Research) telescope is nearing completion. Bruce Carney, chair of physics and astronomy, says the telescope should see first light around March 2003. Designed to produce the best image quality of any ground-based telescope, SOAR sits at an elevation of 9,000 feet in the eastern end of Cerro Pachon, Chile.

The large photo features the SOAR site as of November 2001, while the smaller photo shows the installation of the building’s dome in March 2002.