Protecting the Darkness in Chile's Atacama Desert | Hacker News Reader

Protecting the Darkness in Chile's Atacama Desert

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49 pointslitoE12 comments

The island of La Palma in the Canaries archipelago pioneered the idea of a "dark skies" law back in 2007. It seems to have worked. It still houses most of Europe's active research observatories.

https://www.starlight2007.net/index_option_com_content_view_...

Light pollution is one of these less discussed impacts of our ever expanding economic activity. While it affects astronomers directly, it degrades quality of life for everybody. In the Netherlands there is almost no place in the country to actually see a dark sky (the Milkyway).

We are slowly trapping ourselves within a giant envelope of chemical (gas, particulate), sound, light and other electromagnetic pollutions, hoping that it will all work out ok without corrective action.

I did an astronomy tour experience at a high-end home setup in San Pedro De Atacama. That area is really special and I'm glad people are trying to save the things that make it great.

Mind linking to it? I'm trying to do some astro tourism.

I believe it was this one: https://www.atacamadesertstargazing.com

However, it was a decade ago and I can't find any receipts. I remember they also had a couple condos you could rent on the property, but I don't see any mention on their website. Might have moved them to Airbnb, or moved exclusively to offering star tours.

Or I have the totally wrong link!

EDIT Actually!! It was this place. https://www.spaceobs.com/en/Services/Star-Tours

The site seems old and I can’t tell if they’re still actually in business. However, that’s definitely the tour. They also still have links to the place you can stay on-site, which I very much recommend if it’s still a thing: https://www.spaceobs.com/en/Atacama-Lodge

> The site seems old and I can’t tell if they’re still actually in business.

Can confirm it still exists, I visited last year in April :)

Alternative link: https://sanpedroatacama.com/en/tourist-attraction/space-obs-...

I did a tour with them 20 years ago. It was really great to see the southern sky

What are some special things you recall?

Been there twice. Love the place and it's ultra dark skies.

Once we were driving on the road from Calama to San Pedro de atacama at night and we felt that it's weird that for 50kms these clouds are in the same position in sky and haven't moved. Only till we stopped and realized that those clouds were the Magellanic clouds that were visible with naked eyes from inside the car. That's the darkness of this place. It's worth preserving.

For a closer area with dark skies, SE Oregon has a lot of really remote places.

https://visitbend.com/journal/best-spots-for-stargazing-bend...

The US is covered in expanses of dark skies in the West

For an article focused on light pollution, why waste the space on images of radio telescopes?

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