What is the TAO project?

The TAO project is a plan to build a world-top infrared-optimized telescope with a 6.5m diameter aperture on the summit of Cerro Chajnantor at Atacama in north Chile. This telescope will be dedicated to understand the nature of the Universe and the origin of life. The TAO project is promoted by Institute of Astronomy (IoA), the University of Tokyo with collaboration with the Department of Astronomy, the University of Tokyo, many other Japanese facilities including the National Astronomical Observatory, ISAS/JAXA, and other universities as well as partnership with the Department of Astronomy, the University of Chile.

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Feb 20, 2025 Borosilicate glass used for the primary mirror of the TAO telescope and a model of the TAO telescope are now on display in the Science Gallery In the Science Gallery of the Graduate School of Science and Faculty of Science, the University of Tokyo (located in Building 1 of the Faculty of Science, Hongo Campus), we started the exhibition of borosilicate glass (E6 by OHARA Inc.) used for the primary mirror of the 6.5-meter aperture TAO telescope and... more>>

Sep 30, 2024 Succeeded in photography of Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas at TAO summit facility! The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) will attempt to photograph Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas in the early morning hours of September 30 to October 4, 2024 in Chilean time.If we are successful in photography of Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas, it will be posted on this website. On the first day of photography, September 30, 2024 at 04:48-06:30 (CST), we succeeded in taking a still photograph and a time-lapse video of the comet! The photo shows Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas at 6:09 a.m. on September 30 (CST). more>>

Jul 31, 2024 Development of a Screen camera for optical adjustment of the Telescope The optical system of TAO 6.5m Telescope consists of three mirrors. They are the biggest primary mirror of 6.5m diameter, the secondary mirror with a diameter of less than 1m, and the third mirror which folds back the light to the Nasmyth focus. In order to form a clear image of astronomical objects through the telescope... more>>

Apr 30, 2024 Breaking news! The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) Telescope Site Completion Ceremony Holds The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) Project is to construct the 6.5m optical-infrared telescope at summit of Cerro Chajnantor, an altitude of 5,640 m (18,500 ft) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. TAO Project not only conducts cutting-edge researches in astronomy and astrophysics covering a wide range of fields from the ... more>>

Apr 29, 2024 TAO Workshop was held at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile Prior to the completion ceremony of the University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO) Telescope site, a workshop was held at San Joaquin campus of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile (PUC) on April 29. It was entitled "One-day Workshop on Astronomy in the TAO Era: Synergies with Facilities in Chile", where... more>>

Mar 29, 2024 Trial run for heavy and wide components on TAO summit access road Most important events in construction phase of TAO project are construction of the telescope, installation of mirror coating chamber to the ceiling of support building, and installation of primary mirror to the telescope. To accomplish these tasks, these components have to be transported to the 5,640m summit of Cerro Chajnantor ... more>>

Feb 29, 2024 Development status of a near-infrared high-resolution spectrograph, TARdYS For TAO Telescope, three first-generation instruments, MIMIZUKU, NICE, and SWIMS, which will be used from the first-light, have been developed. Currently, a new spectrograph TARdYS is being developed to follow them at Centro de Astro-Ingenieria de la Universidad Catolica (AIUC)... more>>

Dec 15, 2023 Installation and operation of wireless antennas and weather monitoring devices For TAO, internet line is an important communication infrastructure used for a variety of purposes, including observation and weather monitoring. But there was no internet line on the summit, and it was difficult to communicate with outside. In December 2023, we installed an antenna for ... more>>

Oct 13, 2023 Steel frame of the enclosure was completed and its rotation test succeeded Optical infrared telescopes such as TAO are installed in buildings with large openings in order to avoid the effects of rain and wind. Many buildings used to be spherical, called ‘telescope domes’, but now many buildings are cylindrical or similar in shape, called ‘telescope enclosure’ generally... more>>

Apr 28, 2023 SWIMS open use observations at the Subaru Telescope completed The Simultaneous-color Wide-field Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph (SWIMS), the first-generation instrument for the TAO 6.5-m telescope, has completed its open use operation at the Subaru Telescope (NAOJ, in Hawaii), which had lasted 2 years since 2021. We began designing and manufacturing SWIMS in 2009, conducted ... more>>

Feb 28, 2023 Engineering observation of SWIMS-IFU (Integral field unit for SWIMS, Simultaneous-color Wide-field Infrared Multi-object Spectrograph) on the Subaru Telescope succeeded Spectroscopic observation is necessary to probe the detailed physical state of stars, galaxies, and other astronomical objects. In spectroscopic observation, dispersing the light from astronomical objects into different wavelengths and measuring the intensity of light at each wavelength allows for detecting various characteristics of the light coming from astronomical objects to determine their temperature, density, elemental abundance, and ... more>>