Antofagasta

After a mixed night on the bus, we arrived in Antofagasta early in the morning feeling a bit tired. We took a taxi to the airport to pick up our rental car because we had something really cool planned that can only be reached by car. We were heading to the Paranal Observatory, which belongs to the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and houses the most advanced telescope in the world called the Very Large Telescope. It consists of 4 large and 4 small telescopes that can be combined using interferometry. The observatory is located in the remote Atacama Desert at an altitude of 2600m and is a 2-hour drive from Antofagasta. The Atacama Desert is ideal for astronomy because it is the driest desert in the world (outside of the polar regions) and has very low humidity and little light pollution. Additionally, the clouds here do not rise very high due to the Andes Mountains on one side and the cold Humboldt Current on the other, resulting in over 300 clear nights per year. We had signed up for the weekly guided tour, as the observatory is not accessible to the public on other days. When we arrived at the parking lot, we were greeted by a strong wind, which would become even stronger up at the telescopes. According to our guide, the wind was less than 70km/h, otherwise we would have had to use a tunnel to reach the telescope 😄 We were given a lot of general information about the observatory and were allowed to visit the inside of one of the 4 large telescopes. Each telescope has a total of 3 mirrors, with the first one being the largest, measuring over 8m in diameter and made in one piece - in Mainz! The different mirrors and the attached equipment of the astronomers provide a razor-sharp view of the universe. The current record for the furthest observed object is 13,000 light-years away. With the help of the telescope, you can see 4 billion times better than with the human eye, such as a person walking on Mars or holding a CD up in the ISS! And as if that wasn't enough, an even larger and more precise telescope is currently being built nearby, once again with the super creative name "Extremely Large Telescope". In the end, we were allowed to take a brief look inside the accommodation for the astronomers, who live in a small green oasis with more humidity - in the desert, it's about 5% and you quickly notice it with a dry mouth - which has also served as a hideout for the villains in the James Bond movie "Quantum of Solace". Overall, the tour was really fascinating, the huge telescopes were impressive, and we are glad that we made the long journey. In the evening, we drove to our accommodation and had a chat with the owner Ernesto, who has German roots and runs a food truck called "Currywurst" 😁

The next day, we returned our car and Ernesto kindly took us to the bus station. From here, we will continue our journey into the interior of the Atacama Desert, which stretches a total of 1200km in northern Chile.