The Coast of Antofagasta

The cold Pacific Ocean bathes the coast of Antofagasta, the capital of the II Region of Chile. Antofagasta stretches along about 20 km of a narrow coastal region, demarcated by the Pacific Ocean and the Coastal Mountain Range. With more than 300 000 habitants, Antofagasta is the fifth-largest city of Chile, and the mining capital of the country. Furthermore, the Antofagasta Region is home to the world’s largest ground-based astronomical observatories. The ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), on Cerro Paranal is located some 120 km south of Antofagasta, on the Coastal Mountain Range. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is currently under construction on the 5000-metre-high Chajnantor Plateau, in the Andes close to San Pedro de Atacama. And Cerro Armazones, the selected site for the planned European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), is located about 20 km away from Cerro Paranal. The ELT will be the world’s biggest eye on the sky. Thanks to the oceanic cold stream, the area of the Coastal Mountain Range around Paranal Observatory offers exceptional conditions to ground-based optical astronomy.

Crédit:

P. Zidar/ESO

À propos de l'image

Identification:pzidar_paranal_lv-5
Type:Photographique
Date de publication:16 avril 2011 18:19
Taille:4000 x 3000 px

À propos de l'objet

Nom:Antofagasta
Type:Solar System : Planet : Feature : Surface
Catégorie:Chile

Image Formats

Grand JPEG
2,9 Mio
JPEG taille écran
293,0 Kio

Zoomable


Fonds d'écran

1024x768
345,7 Kio
1280x1024
539,4 Kio
1600x1200
760,1 Kio
1920x1200
900,4 Kio
2048x1536
1,1 Mio