Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Q & A, Part Two

Q: How close are you to the international observatory with the VLT (Very Large Telescope...how original!)that I just saw on the National Geographic Channel? It didn't really give more of its location except that it was in the Atacama Desert...just curious!

A: Leave it to my sister to ask a question I actually had to research! :)

The VLT is located at the Paranal Observatory, which is 120 km south of Antofagasta. Antofagasta is approximately 380 km south of Iquique, so that means we are about 500 km (310 miles) from the observatory. Little did I know that there are actually three major observatories operated by the European Southern Observatory (an "intergovernmental research organization for astronomy") in the Atacama Desert region of Chile. Click on the links for more information!

No comments: