SOAR is a 4m telescope located on Cerro Pachón – La Serena, Chile. With excellent image quality, it is equipped with several instruments, including optical and near‑infrared spectrographs and imagers, and a Ground Layer Adaptive Optics system. In Cerro Tololo, the 4m Blanco telescope operates the optical Dark Energy Camera (DECam) and the near‑infrared NEWFIRM wide‑field imagers. Both telescopes will have an important complementary role during Rubin’s LSST operations, including rapid response to transient events.

The essential service functions include assisting users of the SOAR and/or Blanco telescopes in defining their observing programs, introducing observers to the telescope and instruments, developing documentation for software and astronomical equipment as needed, and participating in calibration and testing of instrumentation and telescope subsystems. Additional service functions may include participation in the development of new capabilities for these telescopes....