Cerro Armazones
Encyclopedia
Cerro Armazones is a mountain located in the Sierra Vicuña Mackenna of the Chilean Coast Range
, approximately 130 km south-east of Antofagasta
in the Antofagasta Region
, Chile
. It has a height of 3,064 m and is located in a privileged zone for optical astronomy since it receives almost 350 cloudless nights a year. It currently hosts the 1.5 m Hexapod-Telescope
of the Observatorio Cerro Armazones.
On 26 April 2010, the European Southern Observatory
Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned European Extremely Large Telescope.
Chilean Coast Range
The Chilean Coastal Range is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, where it ends at the Chile Triple Junction, in the south. The range has a strong...
, approximately 130 km south-east of Antofagasta
Antofagasta
Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...
in the Antofagasta Region
Antofagasta Region
The II Antofagasta Region is one of Chile's fifteen first-order administrative divisions. It comprises three provinces, Antofagasta, El Loa and Tocopilla...
, Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. It has a height of 3,064 m and is located in a privileged zone for optical astronomy since it receives almost 350 cloudless nights a year. It currently hosts the 1.5 m Hexapod-Telescope
Hexapod-Telescope
The Hexapod-Telescope is a design of telescope mounting developed by engineers of the company Vertex in collaboration with astronomers of the Astronomy Department of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum in Germany....
of the Observatorio Cerro Armazones.
On 26 April 2010, the European Southern Observatory
European Southern Observatory
The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...
Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned European Extremely Large Telescope.