The Simons Observatory (SO) scientific collaboration has reached an important milestone with the installation of the Large Aperture Telescope (LAT) on the peak of Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert (Chile). Simons Observatory, in which INFN (Matteo Forconi, Martina Gerbino, Massimiliano Lattanzi, Magdy Morshed) and UNIFE (Giacomo Galloni, Paolo Natoli, Luca Pagano, Giorgia Zagatti) personnel actively participate, is engaged in the observation of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation (CMB), the oldest light in the Universe. The LAT, which saw “first light” with the observation of Mars at the end of February, will allow for the most precise observations up to now of the intensity and polarization level of the CMB at very small angular scales (much smaller than one degree), providing important information on the composition, dynamics and evolution of the Universe. The LAT joins three Small Aperture Telescopes (SATs), already installed and in operation, whose scientific goal is to observe the imprint left in the polarization of the CMB by possible primordial gravitational waves. For more details, please refer to the official press release.
Simons Observatory is a collaboration supported primarily by the Simons Foundation and other US funding institutions. UNIFE is among the member institutions. More information is available on the official site
In the picture the installation of the huge LAT mirrors (about 6 meters in diameter), which was successfully completed at the Simons Observatory (SO) experiment site in Chile in February 2025. The installation of the mirrors is a major milestone for the project, says SO co-director Mark J. Devlin.
