Astrophysics (Index)About

Atacama Desert

(Atacama Plateau)
(Chilean high-altitude, dry plateau with numerous observatories)

The Atacama Desert is a 40,000 square mile plateau in Chile. Its altitude varies, but 7,000 feet is common and its highest peaks exceed 22,000 feet. The plateau is clear and dry with an average of 30 cloudy days per year, and an average annual rainfall of about a millimeter. This leaves many cloudless days/nights suitable for observation, and also means less absorption from water lines, i.e., more substantial atmospheric windows for far infrared and microwave. Observatories and telescopes include:

La Silla Observatory (LSO) is adjacent to the desert, and includes the New Technology Telescope (NTT) and ESO 3.6m Telescope.

Plans and under construction:


(location,Chile)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert
https://www.britannica.com/place/Atacama-Desert
https://www.astronomictourism.com/astronomical-observatories-chile.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/star-trekking-chile-astronomy-180955798/
https://www.livescience.com/64752-atacama-desert.html
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/explore-chile-atacama-desert-stargazing

Referenced by pages:
Atacama B-Mode Search (ABS)
Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)
Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)
Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE)
AtLAST
Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA)
CMB Stage-4 (CMB-S4)
CMB surveys
Cosmic Background Imager (CBI)
Cosmic Lens All-sky Survey (CLASS)
European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT)
European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope (ESO VLT)
Fred Young Submillimeter Telescope (FYST)
La Silla Observatory (LSO)
Large Submillimeter Telescope (LST)
Las Campanas Observatory (LCO)
Llano de Chajnantor Observatory
NANTEN2
National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO)
NGTS
Paranal Observatory
POLARBEAR
QUIET
Simons Array
Simons Observatory (SO)
SPECULOOS
University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO)
VLT Survey Telescope (VST)

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