La Silla (the saddle) run by the European Southern Obervatory
While the night skies down here in southern Chile are pretty awesome when the clouds clear, the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile is famed for its dark, clear skies. It is the home of more than 10 observatories with scientists from around the world and has more observatories than any other country in the world. Four new observatories are being planned and by 2020 Chile will have over 70% of the worlds "astronomical infrastructure". I guess this means telescopes, dish antenna, and stuff.
The worlds largest optical telescope is at the Paranal Observatory near Antofagasta.
Here is a link to an amazing video of the night skies of Chile.
http://vimeo.com/83436955
and here is a link to some great articles on all the wonders scientists have discovered in the night skies over Chile
http://www.thisischile.cl/categoria/astronomy/?lang=en
Enjoy!
WOW -- I mean....wow. I'm speechless on that first video. You've been telling us about the beautiful skies you have in Southern Chile. Is it similar to what Nicholas captured in his vimeo vid? Because, if so....there are no words.
ReplyDeleteAstrotourism...new word for me. :)
Lori says to tell you that the video was produced using a telescope but she is not sure. It is still very clear here when it is clear.
ReplyDelete