Gene Shoemaker Observatory

The Gene Shoemaker Observatory is the research part of the observatory. It has been named after the famed planetologist Eugene Shoemaker, but also personal friend of Alain Maury. The goal of this observatory is to study Near Earth Objects and comets.

For now it is equipped with a 30cm newtonian telescope. It is equipped with a Audine 1602 camera (1024x1532 pixels) and a goto system.
In the future, more powerful telescopes will be installed, as well as wider field cameras.

We are also hosting the Campo Catino Austral Observatory, which is a 50cm telescope F/3 robotized telescope. This telescope has allowed this year to measure an occultation of Charon (Pluto's largest satellite) in collaboration with many other chilean observatories (Paranal, La Silla) and deduce a much better estimate of the diameter of this satellite. This has been published in the magazine Nature for January 15th.

Here is a picture of both telescopes with their shelters