Astro-tourism in Chile: The best place in the World for stargazing

We don’t get tired of repeating ourselves: Chile is the best place in the World to gaze at the night sky into the universe! Acclaimed world-wide, astro-tourism in Chile is a must-have experience. Its skies are the most clean and clear on Earth and offer the best conditions for looking into Outer space, and therefore, have also been an asset for the work of scientists and their quest to decipher the mysteries of the universe.

Not only does Chile have the clearest skies, but also there are the greatest amount of days and nights with good weather throughout the year, that is, over 300 annually. Other optimal conditions include the low amount of dust particles, the perfect level of humidity and Chile’s high and dry geography, which are all factors that give Chile’s skies the perfect conditions to install telescopes and contribute to the advancement of astrology and astro-tourism.

This is why Northern Chile boasts on having more than 40% of all the astronomic observation centers in the World, an amount that is expected to increase up to 60% within the next 10 years.

GLOBALLY SCIENTIFIC

As mentioned, Chile has some of the largest and most important astronomic observatories on Earth, such as the ALMA Observatory’s Radio-telescope (Atacama Large Millimeter Array), the Paranal Observatory, and soon, Paranal’s newest ELT (Extremely Large Telescope) which will turn this astronomic center into the World’s largest optic astronomic center.

Significant public interest in learning and appreciating the mysteries of the Universe has motivated the corresponding government organisms to promote the development and expansion of Astro-tourism in Chile. Furthermore, an ethnic factor has also been embraced into the process, seeking to mix astronomy with history and use this instance to teach about the cosmovision of our Native, Pre-Columbian, communities.

For example, in Atacama there’s a proposition to promote “Ethnic-Astro-tourism” or also called, Archeological Astronomy, which helps people today to understand the Andean Cosmo-vision of the past, developed centuries ago by the “Likan Antay” or Atacama people, whose lives were very much influenced by the stars, impacting even the social structure of the Andean people.

In fact, tour guides in Atacama have been educated in this scientific field in order to organize a number of Ethnic-Astrotourism programs and many of them offer Astro-Photography guided tours as well, with experienced photographers. They invite you to capture the most Amazing images of the Galaxy.

A FREE TOUR

To visit the Observatories during the day is free, with a limited capacity for bookings, which is why  astro-tourism in Chile is an attraction that should be planned with at least a month in advance.

Some of the scientific centers that open their doors to the public are: the Paranal Observatory, located 130 kms South of Antofagasta, it has the most advanced optic instruments of the World.

In Coquimbo, region that has been nicknamed “the Star Capital”, is where Cerro Tololo is located. This Inter-American Observatory is in the Elqui Valley and nearby there’s another one, the Gemini Observatory, that offers tours every Fridays year-round.

CLEAR SKIES

Northwest of Vicuña, in the middle of the amazing skies of the Elqui Valley you can find our Pioneer in Astro-tourism: The Mamalluca Observatory. The tour at this giant  of Chilean Astro-tourism includes transportation, an introductory talk, plain-sight observation and big and small telescopes.

The Collowara Observatory, close to Andacollo, is one of the country’s most modern research centers. It has different telescopes, conference rooms with audiovisual material. Also, different activities are carried out, like theme dinners and horse riding in the area.

OBSERVATION IN THE CAPITAL

Santiago is not left out of the Astro-tourism in Chile and has an interesting number of activities to discover the secrets hidden in the stars.

In the Cajón del Maipo you can find the Roan Jasé Observatory that offers astronomic tours, day (solar) and night observations with different size telescopes. This tour combines classic astronomy with Mapuche Cosmo vision elements.

EDUCATION WITH THE STARS

In the Aconcagua Valley you can find the Pocuro Astronomic Observatory that has the largest telescope in the area, donated by the Bochum University and the La Silla Observatory.

As you can see, Astro-tourism in Chile is abundant, in places that will give visitors a unique experience, that fosters the term “Sky culture”, and offers everyone the chance to get closer to Outer space and the infinite Cosmos.