About SMARTS

The SMARTS Consortium operates four small telescopes (1.5-m, 1.3-m, 1.0-m and 0.9-m) on Cerro Tololo. Membership in SMARTS is open to individuals or institutions, including international partners.

Join and use SMARTS

Inquiries from potential new members of SMARTS at a variety of levels are always encouraged, as opportunities to join the consortium typically arise every year. Members can purchase time on the SMARTS telescopes at very reasonable rates for single use observing runs that span a few days or weeks, or for distributed observing over one or more semesters for time-domain science.  Both user and service modes are available within the capabilities of the four SMARTS telescopes.  Acceptance of a new member depends on the balance of resources and scientific programs associated with current members.

Current rates for SMARTS are $600 USD / night for the 0.9m (Classical user observing mode only) and $200 USD / hour [NOTE: this is per scheduled hour, not executed hour, and includes overheads from telescope pointing and exposure time] for the 1.3m and 1.5m (queue-scheduled service observing mode only).

Primary Members who contribute $25K USD or more are entitled to a seat on the SMARTS Management Council. Those who contribute less than $25K are considered Secondary Members and do not participate in the governance of SMARTS.

If you are interested in joining SMARTS, please contact Victoria Misenti  for more information.

SMARTS Consortium documents

• Contribution and user night schedule
• Current operating plan
• SMARTS 2 Memorandum Of Understanding
  • Appendix A Form of SMARTS 2 Membership Agreement
  • Appendix C Example of a Consortium Contribution Report
  • Appendix D Contact Information for AURA Export Control Administrator

SMARTS History

• Click the following link for more information on the history of SMARTS.