On 11 April 2014, representatives of 12 countries participating in the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project have announced the possible locations of the future Southern CTA observatory. The Jagiellonian University is the coordinating member of the consortium of Polish higher education institutions that are involved in the project.

The negotiations, held in Munich, were attended by representatives of countries from all around the world, including Argentina, Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Namibia, Poland, South Africa and Spain. Most of the votes were cast on two locations that are known for their excellent weather conditions: Aar (Namibia, Africa) and the European Southern Observatory (Chile, South America). The third, backup location is Leoncito (Argentina, South America). The final decision will depend on the result of further negotiations and will most likely be announced this year.

Poland, which is one of the project's originators, along with Germany and France, has played a significant role in the research leading to selection of possible locations. Prof. Tomasz Bulik from the University of Warsaw Astronomical Observatory was the head of the task force that assessed the conditions of the sites. As part of this research, weather stations and wide angle lens video cameras were installed at all nine prospective locations. The results were combined with an analysis of satellite data and numerical weather predictions, which allowed for a reliable assessment of each location.

What is more, a Polish team of physicists and engineers are working on one of the fundamental elements of the CTA project. In collaboration with Swiss scientists, they have designed and are currently building an innovative prototype of a small Cherenkov telescope, based on digital technology and the use of semiconductor photomultipliers. "There will be 70 such telescopes in the observatory and our effort, supported by the Ministry of Higher Education, National Centre for Research and Development and National Science Centre with grants amounting to over 10 million PLN, gives the Polish industry a chance to become involved in construction of basic research equipment," said Prof. Michał Ostrowski from the Jagiellonian University, the coordinator of the CTA work in Poland. He added: "In preparation to this task, we have organised two meetings with business representatives in the National Centre for Sciences and Development. I would like to invite all those interested in the project to visit the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kraków on 2 June, when the telescope will be officially put into operation."

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) project is an initiative to build the next generation ground-based very high energy gamma-ray instrument. More than 1000 scientists and engineers from 28 countries are involved in this project. In Poland, 9 leading educational institutions are participating in it, with over 70 astrophysicists, engineers and computer scientists. Two observatories will be erected on Northern and Southern hemispheres, allowing for observation of the sky over the entire planet – both in our galaxy and outside it. In each of the planned locations, there will be a network of telescopes in three sizes of mirror diameters: small (4 metres), medium (12 metres) and large (24 metres). It will be constructed in the years 2015–2020 for approximately 200 million euro.

More on the project: https://www.cta-observatory.org/.