Astronomy in Chile

Chile can be considered astronomy's world capital. In 2011, Chile was home to 42% of the world's astronomical infrastructure consisting mostly of telescopes, and by 2020 it will contain around 70% of the global infrastructure. In the Atacama desert region located at northern Chile, the skies are exceptionally clear and dry for more than 300 days a year. These optimal conditions have attracted the world's scientific community to develop in the Atacama desert the most ambitious astronomical projects in the history of mankind.

Chile welcomes a diverse and active astronomical community that includes Chilean and international professionals and others, such as astronomers, engineers, students, teachers and amateurs.

The first documented testimony of an astronomical measurement done in Chile is the observation of a lunar eclipse by the soldier Pedro Cuadrado Chavino (June 1582). He used a classic Greek method to obtain the latitude of the city of Valdivia based on the eclipse's measurements. In 1849, during the government of Manuel Bulnes, a scientific mission from the U.S. navy run by James M. Gilliss arrived to Chile for observing Venus and Mars to calculate the Earth-Sun distance. The Gilliss mission established the first astronomical observatory in the Cerro Santa Lucia (Santiago). In 1852, the facilities were transferred to Chile and the National Astronomical Observatory was created. During the second half of the 20th century, observatories from the U.S. and Europe were installed in different locations at the north of the country:La Silla, Cerro Tololo, Las Campanas and later Cerro Paranal, Cerro Pachon and Chajnantor.

CATA is the largest Chilean project of R&D in astronomy’s technologies. It’s located in Calán Hill (Cerro Calán), in Santiago, Chile. This center brings together the largest amount of astronomers in Chile from three universities: Universidad de Chile, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile and Universidad de Concepción. CATA develops nine different areas: 6 focused in scientific research, 3 focused on technology advances, and 1 on Education & Outreach (to students, teachers and general public).

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