Overview
- Engineers have started installation at El Sauce Observatory, with the array reported about one‑third complete and full operations targeted for late 2026.
- The instrument combines 1,140 Canon telephoto lenses as a distributed aperture whose stacked images mimic a roughly 4.7‑meter telescope.
- Tunable ultra‑narrowband filters are designed to pick out the faint hydrogen glow from intergalactic gas while suppressing Milky Way foregrounds.
- The project evolves from the Dragonfly Telephoto Array led by Roberto Abraham and Pieter van Dokkum under the Dragonfly FRO organization.
- Philanthropic funding from XTX Markets founder Alex Gerko supports the faster, lower‑cost build, with researchers saying success would mark a major observational advance.