Big Astronomy of the Southern Skies

High on a mountain in the South American country of Chile are dozens of large, domed structures, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, run by NSF’s NOIRLab), the U.S. national center for ground-based, nighttime optical astronomy. Nearby is the largest radio astronomy observatory in the world, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), run by an international coalition of agencies with the Republic of Chile.

The mountains of northern Chile are some of the clearest, highest, and driest locations in the world. Therefore, they are some of the best locations for astronomical observing. Observatories in the Southern Hemisphere give astronomers across the world the ability to study objects not visible from the north. More than half of the planet’s astronomical observatories are located in Chile.

Last August, Lucia spent 10 days in Chile with the Astronomy in Chile Educators Ambassadors Program, visiting these and other observatories and learning about incredible astronomical discoveries that have been made there. She also saw the new Vera Rubin Observatory, which will revolutionize astronomy with a planned decade-long optical survey of the sky.

Lucia will share discoveries from the modern facilities, the astronomy of ancient indigenous people of Chile, as well as pictures of the incredible geology, flora, and fauna of the Chilean mountains and the Atacama Desert.