Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy

Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) is a 15-university consortium led by Embry-Riddle that operates 1-meter class telescopes for astronomical research and education at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona (SARA-KP), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile (SARA-CT) and Roque de los Muchachos on La Palma in the Canary Islands (SARA-RM).

All the telescopes are accessible over the internet in real time. Faculty and students may conduct observations from their home institution, by traveling to the site or from anywhere with an internet connection.

SARA facilities are for the exclusive use of SARA institution faculty, undergraduates and graduate students. Each member institution receives about 30 nights per year on each telescope to conduct research projects of their choosing.

Each telescope is equipped with a high-efficiency CCD camera for imaging and a second CCD camera for fine guiding. The telescopes in Arizona and Chile are also equipped with Echelle spectrographs for high-resolution spectroscopy.

SARA is a tenant member of the Associated Universities for Research in Astronomy, which administers the U.S. observatory system and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias La Laguna, Tenerife, which administers the national observatory system of Spain.

See the SARA website for more details.