Abstract

The Condor Array Telescope comprises six refracting telescopes and six large-format CMOS cameras on a common mount. The telescope is optimized for very low surface-brightness sensitivity, rapid time resolution, and a very wide field of view. The telescope has been operating autonomously on dark site in New Mexico since 2021. Condor has obtained sensitive broad- and narrow-band images of a variety of objects, including extended regions surrounding dwarf novae, extended regions surrounding nearby galaxies and galaxy groups; hundreds of thousands of source hours of rapid-cadence broad-band photometry of white dwarfs; narrow-band images of redshifted Lyman-alpha emission, to detect the high-redshift circum- and inter-galactic media, providing the first hints of the direct detection of the low redshift cosmic web. This illustrated talk will describe all these discoveries and outline plans for the construction of Condor phase 2, a new facility in the Atacama desert at an altitude of 5200m.