Las Campanas Observatory is an astronomicalobservatory in the southern Atacama desert in Chile. It is owned and operated by the Carnegie Institution for Science. It was built in 1969 as the main observing site for the Carnegie Institution for Science. The headquarters are located in La Serena, Chile and the observatory is about 100 km (62 mi) northeast of the city. The observatory is at 2,400 m (7,874 ft) above sea level.
On February 24, 1987, Ian Shelton and Oscar Duhalde first saw the Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A).
NANTEN Telescope (closed) — 4m millimeter-wavelength radio telescope, transported to Atacama desert, Chile.
There are also the small "Pi of the sky" wide-angle cameras that filmed the gamma ray burstGRB 080319B in 2008. This was the largest explosion ever seen in the Universe, and could have been seen without a telescope.[2]
