Industrial Complex Proposal Threatens Some of the World’s Clearest Skies for Astronomy
The European Southern Observatory is at serious risk of losing the clear skies above its Paranal Observatory in Chile’s Atacama Desert, officials said, due to a proposed industrial complex put forward by the subsidiary of a U.S. power company.
Paranal Observatory is home to ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), which comprises four telescopes each with a 27-foot (8.2-meter) mirror and four auxiliary telescopes with 6-foot (1.8-meter) mirrors. Working together, the telescopes produce some of the sharpest views of the universe. Observatory officials are seriously concerned that the proposed industrial project will go ahead, diminishing what Paranal can see and permanently changing nighttime visibility in some of the best skies for astronomical research.
The project, dubbed Inna, is a proposed industrial-scale green hydrogen project. The project’s total footprint would cover more than 7,413 acres of the Atacama and would include a port, ammonia and hydrogen production plants, and thousands of electric generators.
