ESO Director General meets Chilean Minister of National Assets

On 6 July 2010, the Chilean Minister of National Assets, Catalina Parot, met ESO Director General, Prof. Tim de Zeeuw (on the right) and the ESO Representative in Chile, Prof. Massimo Tarenghi (at the centre), to discuss the implementation of the offer made by the Chilean Government to transfer to ESO a substantial tract of land contiguous to ESO’s Paranal property. This tract of land contains Cerro Armazones, the site selected for the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). The purpose of this transfer would be to ensure the continued protection of the site against all adverse influences, in particular light pollution and mining activities. Cerro Armazones is a 3046-metre-high mountain located in the central part of Chile’s Atacama Desert, some 130 kilometres south of the town of Antofagasta and about 20 kilometres from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope.