TAROT-South robotic observatory, Robotic telescope at La Silla Observatory, Chile

TAROT-South is a 25 cm robotic optical telescope at La Silla Observatory in Chile, a duplicate of the original TAROT at Calern, France. It can accelerate at 120°/s² to a top speed of 80°/s, starting observations within 1–1.5 seconds of a gamma-ray burst alert. Its wide field of view lets it refine a rough ±1° position to 1″ within a minute.

TAROT-South is a duplicate of the original TAROT telescope at the Calern observatory in France, built for ESO's programme to catch gamma-ray bursts. It was installed at La Silla, where ESO has operated telescopes since the 1960s. The design lets it start observing within 1–1.5 seconds of a gamma-ray alert.

TAROT stands for Télescope à Action Rapide pour les Objets Transitoires, a French name reflecting the project's origin: the instrument is a duplicate of the original TAROT at the Calern observatory in France. The name and the copy link the Chilean site to a French-designed network built around reacting to alerts from gamma-ray detectors.

TAROT-South is a robotic telescope that operates without on-site staff, so there are no visitor sessions to plan around. Its work is triggered remotely: within 1–1.5 seconds of a gamma-ray alert it slews to the target and, within a minute, narrows the position to about 1″ for larger telescopes to follow up.

The facility can respond to satellite alerts and reposition its telescopes within seconds to observe newly detected cosmic events, a capability that sets it apart in astronomical research. This speed allows scientists to capture cosmic explosions before they fade from view.