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Descripción
The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is an international project aimed at advancing our understanding of the gamma-ray sky with the most sensitive gamma-ray observatory ever built. CTAO will consist of two arrays of Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs), comprising more than 60 telescopes in total. The northern array is under construction at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (ORM) on the Canary Island of La Palma, while the southern array will be located at Paranal, Chile. Three different telescope sizes will be used to cover a broad energy range from 20 GeV to 300 TeV. CTAO will feature fast science alert processing and rapid telescope repointing, making it a premier facility for studying high-impact transient phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts and gravitational-wave counterparts.
Spain plays a key role in the development of CTAO, particularly at the northern site, with significant contributions to the Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs), site infrastructure, software, computing systems, and atmospheric characterization. Following the establishment of the CTAO European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC) in January 2025, construction activities have accelerated. At the CTAO-North site, one LST is already operational, three more are under construction, and work on the operations and technical building is about to begin. Infrastructure development has also started at the southern site, where the first telescope is expected to be deployed in 2026.
In this contribution, we present an update on the status of CTAO, focusing on construction progress, planned science operations, and Spain’s central role in the project.
