Astronomic Tourism (Atacama Desert) 智利的天文觀光

The Atacama is the driest desert in the world. This means that very, very few people can live here. The greatest advantage is that the air is super clean and there is no light pollution (light pollution from cities and towns makes it hard to see the faint light that comes from faraway stars). The Atacama is a perfect place to study the stars.

Here are some of the telescopes that have been built here:

Below are some of the fascinating stars and galaxies (= star systems, like our Milky Way 銀河, which is also a galaxy) they have photographed:

This amazing view would be impossible to see in much of the northern hemisphere

This is a double galaxy

You are looking at an image of a triple galaxy

This is a dust cloud around a nearby star.

You can take a virtual tour of Chile's telescopes (on the right hand menu, under Main Map, be sure to click on "From a Distance" to see an overview) but going there in person would be even better.
This website gives details about tours, but be ready for some odd Spanish-style English (example: "a strong influence Inca", which should be "a strong Inca influence"): http://www.astronomictourism.com/tours-excursions.html

Above you can see a time lapse view of the sky seen from the Atacama desert