El Paranal

The 11th and 12th grade classes in the school take a trip to a place called El Paranal (the European Southern Observatory) every year to learn about the sciences involved in astronomy. El Paranal is the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory. It's located just outside of Antofagasta, a town on the coast in the Atacama desert about 6 hours south. It is the perfect location because since the Atacama is the driest desert in the world, there aren't clouds or moisture to block the views. There also aren't people because there's no reason to live in a desert like that, so that means no light pollution. The astronomers and workers at the observatory live in an underground dome with a huge curtain to cover the windows of the dome at night to block any light that might come from inside. They sleep during the day and work all night. There are 4 huge telescopes with lenses about 9 meters in diameter that can work separately or together depending on the mission. The technology is amazing and they are planning on making an even larger telescope, with a lens about 40 meters across that will be capable of watching a person walk across the moon. That telescope will be able to observe different galaxies and the solar systems within them...possibly revealing other planets that support life. Amazing. Although we weren't there at night and didn't see any of the views of stars or employees working, it was still pretty cool to learn about the observatory and see something so unique.

 

The giant lens inside one of the telescopes