Update on the status of the CTIO facilities

This is an update on the status of the mountain (CTIO) facilities and the prospects for reopening, which was received from the Director of the Cerro Tololo Observatory.

"Conditions are considerably better than in my last report and we are almost, but not quite, ready to resume regular operations.

After more than 20 days hard work by facilities operations  staff and contractors the access road has been repaired sufficiently to allow safe access by staff and, importantly, by heavy vehicles.  TelOps staff began recovery and planned engineering work at the Blanco telescope last Monday and teams from SOAR, Gemini and Rubin were able to get to Pachon for initial inspections last Friday.  We were also able to resupply the generators on Tololo last Friday and trucked water from a new provisional well to refill the water tanks this Monday.  You can find more information and pictures of the recovery work here 

Because a new storm front was forecast to bring rain and snow again today and continue over the weekend we again suspended work on the mountain today for safety reasons. However, so far the front has been much weaker than predicted so we may be able to resume work tomorrow.  FacOps have been able to provide hot lunches for the work crews this week and plans to resume full food and lodging services next week This will allow us to return to something more like normality with the full day crew going to the mountain each day and some staff staying overnight by the middle of next week.

So I hope that it will be possible to begin powering up and resuming operation of your telescopes on Tololo by the end of next week."

Total Solar Eclipse as observed at Ebro Observatory

On 11-12 August 2026, the IAU Working Group on Coordination of Synoptic Observations of the Sun and the International Space Weather Action Team on Data sets of historical observations of solar and geomagnetic activity (S1-03) held a joint workshop on "Synoptic ground-based solar observations for space weather and space climate". The workshop took place at the Ebro Observatory and included presentations about preservation of historical data, use of historical data for modern scientific research, current state of observational facilities in different countries, and plans for future networks of synoptic observations (ngGONG and SOLARNET/SPRING). The workshop was attended by scientists from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and USA. On the last day, the workshop was visited by Dr.  Núria Montserrat, Minister for Research and Universities of the Catalan Government and Ellen S. Baker, a former NASA astronaut. Photo 1 shows (left to righth) Dr. Juan José Curto, Dr.  Montserrat, and Ms. Baker greeting the workshop participants. Their visit was related to the activities organized by the Observatory with respect to public viewing of the total solar eclipse.

 

The event included several public lectures about the history of Ebro Observatory, space flights from the perspective of former Spanish and US astronauts, astronomy studies of exoplanets, and space weather effects on Earth (photo 2). Before and during the eclipse, the observatory personnel was taking measurements of the atmospheric properties (wind, temperature) using small weather balloons (photo 3). Children were invited to draw pictures of solar atmosphere and stellar nebula (photo 4). 

 

Total solar eclipse took place at the end of the day during the sunset (see photos 5 and 6). After the dark, the evening concluded by public viewing of Perseids meteor shower.

 

Last image (photo 7) shows partial solar eclipse as observed by GONG at Teide station on Canary Islands. 

 

Getting ready for the eclipse?

The last total solar eclipse in Spain happened on August 30, 1905 (121 years ago!) and so, perhaps it is not surprising that the signs of this year eclipse (August 12, 2026) are everywhere. Would you like to try "Eclipse 2026" ice cream (photos 1-2)? Or perhaps, come to a roof-top at a hotel in Barcelona (photo 3). Eclipse creme brulee anyone (photo 4)? Photos 5-6 show eclipse signs for the public viewing event at the Ebro Observatory (Observatori de l’Ebre) in Tortosa, Catalonia.

 

GONG CT status update from 10 Aug. 2026

Local team at CTIO informed us that the UPS and workstation were on at GONG. NSO engineering team was able to access GONG station remotely. Data acquisition was started and verified. The PMFLAG has been turned off and all looks good.  The turret is still covered and the roll/pitch amplifiers remain off. The weather forecast for the next days is not good. Depending on the weather, the CTIO  team will return to the summit on Friday (8/14) or Monday (8/17). At that time, we could attempt restarting GONG observations.

Solar total eclipse is in one week

 We are 1 week from totality!

The Predictive Science Inc. was running their data-assimilative model in near real time and updating the prediction for over 15 days now.  Attached image shows the current prediction for a locations near Palencia, Spain. For more up-to-date predictions, see https://eclipse.predsci.com

 

GONG CTIO Status, 5 Aug. 2026

On 5 Aug., CTIO team stopped by GONG station and manually powered up GONG UPS. The UPS was restarted and most of the equipment started up. GONG no longer appears to be in a shutdown mode. This should enable the NSO team to remotely login to GONG. Attached are two photos of GONG from outside. There are no visible damages to the shelter or the instrument. For now, we will keep turret covered by the bag in case of bad weather.

 

Chile Storm Recovery Update: 3 August

Recovery efforts continue at NOIRLab's Chilean facilities following July’s historic winter storm. After fresh rain and snow paused recovery work late last week, crews returned to the mountains over the weekend. Today, teams are evaluating whether it is possible to reach the summit of Cerro Pachón.

Heavy equipment crews are actively clearing snow and repairing access roads. The primary bottleneck remains extensive road damage between the Control Puerta and the El Quisco junction, including a large drop-off at kilometer 14 requiring a temporary bypass. It currently takes a three-hour drive to reach the summits.

 

While commercial power has been restored to Cerro Tololo, the service is unreliable, and today the team switched back to generators. Cerro Pachón also relies on generators due to severe power infrastructure damage. To conserve fuel, generators will be turned off at the end of each day, until full-sized delivery trucks can reach the summit. Teams are currently bringing up small diesel loads in pickup trucks. The status of the Cerro Tololo water pump house and distribution system is still under investigation.

 

Workers at the Cerro Pachón hotel area following a winter storm in July 2026

Snow covers vehicles at the Cerro Pachón hotel area following a winter storm in July 2026.

The top of NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory is seen in the distance following a winter storm in July 2026. 

Damage on the road to Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo following a winter storm in July 2026.

 

Damage on the road to Cerro Pachón and Cerro Tololo following a winter storm in July 2026.