The skies of northern Chile are some of the best in the world for astronomical observations. These skies contain many beautiful and important astronomical objects that are not visible easily or at all from the Northern Hemisphere, including the center of our Milky Way galaxy, and they are a true treasure, both for Chileans and for all of humanity.

In the area of Coquimbo, for example, there are 345 clear nights per year. The Atacama Desert has a phenomenally transparent atmosphere and extremely dry climate. These special conditions have attracted the attention of the most important astrophysical entities in the world. Over time these institutions, in partnership with the Chilean government and researchers, have developed one of the largest concentrations of international telescopes in the world.

Through observations accomplished in Chile and in collaboration with national universities and other professionals, our knowledge of the universe has grown immeasurably and is expanding day by day.

Observations with new and advanced telescopes in the millimeter and submillimeter regions of the electromagnetic spectrum will enable observations of the earliest epochs of our universe and allow us to peer deep into cool, dusty clouds to unravel the mystery of stellar birth. These observations will potentially revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos just as Galileo's observations of the moon, Jupiter and the Milky Way opened our eyes to the vastness of space only 400 years ago. In a significant, yet unexpected way, the capacity to understand our cosmic origins influences the very way we understand ourselves. Astronomy is not an esoteric topic. It provides the context for all the rest of our knowledge and understanding.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in astronomy projects in Chile, such as the telescopes of Cerro Tololo, Gemini South, the Magellan, Paranal, and ALMA, and even more ambitious plans are on the drawing board. With the object of facilitating the presence of these unique facilities and their support organizations, Chile has provided special conditions for their installation and operation, granting them a status similar to that of international organizations.

The installation of sophisticated astrophysics instruments in Chile generates not only interesting and beneficial technology transfer opportunities - it also enhances the economy of Chile, especially the economic situation in the northernmost reaches of the country. In addition, the installation of modern astronomical observatories is an important factor in the education and training of a new generation of Chilean scientists and highly specialized experts in a variety of fields. Chile is striving to produce 10 native astronomers for every 1 million inhabitants in order to fully utilize the 10% observing time provided by all international telescopes located in Chile. It is a challenge happily undertaken and inroads are being made.

But the natural resource of the skies is not unlimited. There are already 600 million people in the world that cannot see stars at night due to light contamination. The increase of artificial light, produced by the demographic growth of large cities, generates concerns for the performance of astronomical centers. Since 1999, Chile has had in place a “Regulation for Lighting Standards,” which establishes a legal framework to protect the quality of the skies in the Second, Third and Fourth Regions. There are already a number of positive results from the enactment of this legislation. Cities like Copiapó, La Serena and Vicuña have changed some of their public illumination sources. Pursuing this issue at a global level, in March 2003, around hundred professionals participated in the First International Congress of Light Pollution, held in La Serena. There, they agreed to establish a program of international significance that would educate authorities on the problems caused by light pollution. Chilean officials continue to work to preserve the quality of its skies for astronomy.

These dark skies are not valued only by astronomers. Increasingly, many tourists are venturing to Chile to see these skies and beautiful landscapes for themselves, and several local communities have responded to this opportunity by building small public observatories to bolster further “astrotourism.”

OBSERVATORIES IN CHILE

The CERRO TOLOLO INTERAMERICAN OBSERVATORY (CTIO) is located about 310 miles north of Santiago, Chile, and about 43 miles east of La Serena, at an altitude of 7,260 feet. CTIO operates the 4-meter Blanco telescope at this site, and shares operation of the 1.5-meter, 0.9-meter, and Curtis Schmidt telescopes with various university consortia. CTIO is one of the two major telescope sites of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), which has its headquarters in Tucson, Arizona. NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), Inc., one of the landmark organizations in the early development of U.S.-Chilean partnerships in astronomy. The mission of NOAO is to provide leadership in the establishment and operation of premier ground based astronomical research facilities and to promote public understanding and support of science. (Photo courtesy of NOAO/AURA/NSF).

OBSERVATORIES & PROJECTS OF THE EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY (ESO): La Silla and Paranal


LA SILLA OBSERVATORY - La Silla is a 7,920-foot mountain, bordering the southern extremity of the Atacama Desert in Chile. It is located about 100 miles north of La Serena. Originally known as Cinchado, the mountain was renamed La Silla (the saddle) after its shape. It stands quite isolated and remote from any artificial light and dust sources (astronomy's worst enemies). La Silla was the first ESO observatory built in Chile.

THE PARANAL OBSERVATORY is located on the top of Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert in the northern part of Chile, in what is believed to be the driest area on Earth. Cerro Paranal is an 8,696 foot-high mountain located about 75 miles south of the town of Antofagasta and 7.5 miles inland from the Pacific Coast. The geographical coordinates are 24° 40'S, 70° 25'W.

The Paranal Mountain was chosen because of its excellent atmospheric conditions and its remoteness. This will ensure that the front-line astronomical observations to be carried out there will not be disturbed by adverse human activities, e.g. dust and light from roads and mines.

THE VLT PROJECT- The ESO has built the world's largest optical telescope array, the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in the Atacama. The VLT Project organization is responsible for the design and construction of the Unit Telescopes, including enclosures, optics, adapter-rotators and coating unit. It is based at the ESO Headquarters in Garching, Germany. The VLT comprises four 8.2-meter reflecting telescopes and several mobile 1.8-meter auxiliary telescopes, the light beams of which can be combined in the VLT Interferometer (VLTI). With its unprecedented optical resolution and unsurpassed surface area, the VLT produces extremely sharp images and can record light from the faintest and most remote objects in the universe.

(Photos courtesy of ESO)

THE ATACAMA LARGE MILLIMETER ARRAY (ALMA) is an international collaboration between Europe, North America, and Japan to build a synthesis radio telescope that will operate at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. ALMA is the name for the merger of a number of major millimeter array projects into one global project: the European Large Southern Array (LSA), the U.S. Millimeter Array (MMA), and the Japanese Large Millimeter and Submillimeter Array (LMSA). This will be the largest ground-based astronomy project of the next decade after VLT/VLTI, and, along with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), one of the two major new facilities for world astronomy possibly coming into operation by the end of the next decade.

Up to 64 12-meter antennas will be placed on the Chajnantor site, a high plateau at an altitude of about 16,500 feet in the Andean mountains in Chile.

The ALMA partners are:

The National Science Foundation (NSF), United States of America
The European Southern Observatory (ESO)
The Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
The Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy (NFRA)
Nederlandse Onderzoekschool Voor Astronomie (NOVA)
The Swedish Research Council (SRC)
El Ministerio de Ciencia y Technologia (Spain)

CERRO PACHON OBSERVATORIES: GEMINI and SOAR telescopes

THE GEMINI PROJECT is an international partnership that includes two 8-meter telescopes, one on Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and one on Cerro Pachón, Chile. The telescopes and auxiliary instrumentation are international facilities open to the scientific communities of the member countries. Sitting the telescopes on Mauna Kea (elevation 13,822 ft.) in Hawaii and Cerro Pachon (elevation 8,895 ft.) near Cerro Tololo in central Chile, they provide complete sky coverage, making key astronomical objects (e.g. Magellanic Clouds, M31, M32, and M33) accessible regardless of location on the celestial sphere. Both sites offer high percentages of clear weather and excellent atmospheric stability.

The Gemini telescopes are designed to exploit the best image quality allowed by the Earth's atmosphere at these sites, with nearly diffraction-limited imaging at longer wavelengths. Optical images of Gemini infrared performance will be further enhanced by minimizing the telescope contributions to the thermal infrared background. The combination of large aperture, excellent imaging, and low infrared background give the Gemini Telescopes 10 times the sensitivity increase of existing 4-meter class telescopes for many applications. Gemini South was dedicated at Cerro Pachón in January 2002. Most of the first generation of Gemini science instruments are in operation. They were constructed as work packages managed by the national project offices in the Gemini partner countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Chile, Australia, Argentina and Brazil. (Photo courtesy of Gemini Observatory)

THE SOUTHERN ASTROPHYSICAL RESEARCH (SOAR) TELESCOPE - SOAR is a partnership between Michigan State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), and the country of Brazil. Astronomers from Chile, the host country, have established a vigorous program of research in modern astronomy with a significant expansion of their access to new generations of telescopes presently being built in their country. Dedicated in April 2004, the SOAR telescope adds a unique tool to the array of instrumentation available to Chilean astronomers. The goal of the SOAR project is to build and operate a new-generation, lightweight, computer-controlled 4-meter telescope capable of producing the best possible image quality at its outstanding site on Cerro Pachón, at the westward edge of the Chilean Andes. SOAR science operations should begin in 2005.

LAS CAMPANAS: A CARNEGIE OBSERVATORY – The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (OCIW) were founded by George Ellery Hale in 1904. Located in Pasadena, California, they have operated telescopes on Cerro Las Campanas, Chile, since the 1970s. The Magellan Project is a collaboration between the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (OCIW), the University of Arizona, the Harvard University, the University of Michigan, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to construct two 6.5-meter optical telescopes in the southern hemisphere. The telescopes are located at Las Campanas Observatory, at an altitude of 8,000 feet in the Chilean Andes, and operated by OCIW. (Photo courtesy of Las Campanas/OCIW)

THE COSMIC BACKGROUND IMAGER (CBI) is a special-purpose radio telescope designed to study the cosmic microwave background radiation from the early universe. It is located at an altitude of 5,080 m (16,700 feet) in the Chilean Andes.

The CBI Project is a collaboration between the California Institute of Technology, the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, the University of Chicago, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, the University of Chile, and the University of Concepción. The project has been supported by funds from the National Science Foundation, the California Institute of Technology, Maxine and Ronald Linde, Cecil and Sally Drinkward, Barbara and Stanley Rawn Jr., the Kavli Institute, and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. (Photo courtesy of CBI)

MAIN CHILEAN ASTRONOMICAL INSTITUTIONS

Academic Institutions

Department of Astronomy at the University of Chile

Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Catholic University

The Astronomy Group at the University of Concepción

Department of Physics at the University of La Serena

Institute of Astronomy at the Catholic University of the North / Cerro Armazones Observatory

Other Institutions and Outreach Groups

Astronomy Circle

Chilean Association of Astronomy and Astronautics

Chilean Society of Astronomy

Chilean Network of Astronomy

Planetarium Foundation

The Isaac Newton Institute for Astronomical Research (INI)

RedLaSer

Spanish Language Astronomy Materials Education Center

Chile Astronomical Observatories Presentation