Chile is the 'astronomy capital' of the world due to its desert

24 Mar 2020

Chile is the ‘astronomy capital’ of the world due to its desert

Chile is the ‘astronomy capital’ of the world due to its desertWhile reading articles, have you ever noticed that many of the world's telescopes for studying space are located in the country of Chile?

This is because Chile is considered to be the 'astronomy capital' of the world. Astronomy is the study of the stars, planets and space.

What is the reason for this?

This is because Chile (located in South America), is home to the Atacama desert.

This desert has dry weather for more than 300 days in a year and extraordinarily clear skies with very little pollution, making it the most suitable place for astronomers to look at the stars.

How many telescopes are located in the Atacama desert?

About 70% of the world's best telescopes for astronomy are located here.
 	This includes the Atacama Large Millimeter Array ALMA, Paranal Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) and more.

Are they building even more telescopes?

Yes. They are building an ELT (Extremely Large Telescope) in the Paranal Observatory. This telescope will be the most powerful telescope in the world. It will be the size of a football stadium and can withstand earthquakes.

Due to all this, interest in astronomy is quite high in Chile. It also has many astronomy institutes where people come from all over the world to study.

Recommended for Preparatory Grades

While reading articles, have you ever noticed that many of the world’s telescopes for studying space are located in the country of Chile? This is […]

To read more...

Share your comment! Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

To post your comment Login/Signup