Cerro Murphy Observatory

Cerro Murphy Observatory, renamed the Rolf Chini Cerro Murphy Observatory in 2023, sits high in Chile's Antofagasta Region, a stone's throw from the world-class Paranal and Cerro Armazones astronomy sites.

About Cerro Murphy Observatory

The observatory occupies Cerro Murphy, a hill roughly 1 km southwest of and 230 m below the summit of Cerro Armazones, at an altitude of 2,817 metres — about 120 km south of Antofagasta. It currently houses five telescopes ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 metres in diameter, run under an international collaboration between the European Southern Observatory's Paranal site and Polish astronomical institutions.

History

Founded in 2005, the observatory was originally owned and operated jointly by Ruhr University Bochum and the Catholic University of the North until 2020, when it passed to the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences (CAMK) and came under the management of the Araucaria Project. It took its current name, honouring astronomer Rolf Chini, in 2023.

Telescopes & research

Beyond its current five telescopes, Poland's largest telescope — a 2.5-metre instrument built by AstroSysteme Austria — is under construction for the site and scheduled to begin operations in 2026. The observatory's neighbours include ESO's Paranal Observatory, the Extremely Large Telescope under construction on Cerro Armazones, and the Cherenkov Telescope Array.

Location & getting there

Cerro Murphy sits at 2,817 metres altitude in the Antofagasta Region of northern Chile, about 120 km south of the city of Antofagasta, in one of the driest and clearest observing regions on Earth.

Visiting Cerro Murphy Observatory

As a working research station in a remote high-altitude desert location, Cerro Murphy is not a general tourist site; anyone interested in access should contact the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center or the Araucaria Project directly.

See your named star from here

With a 2.5-metre telescope soon joining its five existing instruments, Cerro Murphy will have serious optical power to resolve the coordinates behind a named star. Explore your star's position in our catalogue.