Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

The most famous astronomical center of all Chile, located, in the Aymara language, at the “edge of abyss.” When you see the vast landscape that opens up from an elevation of 2.200 meters, revealing the valley and its most hidden corners, you will see how the name gains meaning. The view is priceless. Leer mas

Cruz del Sur Observatory

Name: It takes the name from one of the most classical constellation of the southern sky: the Southern Cross or Crux. This is because the domes of the observatory are placed the same way as the stars in Crux constellation.

Location: Combarbalá at 1.140 meters above the sea level, 3 hours southeast from La Serena. The road is fully paved.

Description: The project of this observatory was promoted in the IV region of Chile by the Municipality of Combarbalá and the Planetarium of the University of Santiago. It was funded by the Regional Counsel of Coquimbo who, at the beginning of 2005, donated 246 million of pesos for the construction and implementation of this new astronomic center.

Equipment: Two telescopes Meade LX200-R Schmidt-Cassegrain type of 16″ and two Meade equipments, LX200-R Schmidt-Cassegrain de 14″ type, all of them with equatorial mount.

Visiting Hours: 17:00, 20:00, 22:00 hrs.

Pangue Observatory

Name: The observatory takes the name from the property where it is placed, the farm El Pangue.

Location: It is located 18 km to the south of the city of Vicuña, and 80 km to the east of the city of La Serena at 1500 mt above the sea level. The offices are in the city of Vicuña.

Description: Astronomica del Sur is a company related to the astronomy field: courses, colsuntancies, education, etc. This was the company behind the construction of the Mamalluca observatory and Pangue observatory is one of their new projects. Leer mas

Tour Elqui Valley and Mamalluca Observatory

Leaving the city of La Serena heading east on the way to the Andes cordillera we will notice how the landscape changes into the beautiful and charming Elqui Valley.

On the route that lead us to the city of Vicuña, we will find, at the side of the road, the Pucalro Dam, dam with the capacity to contain 200 millions m³. We will be able to look upon the beautiful landscape of the lake from the look out point located in the upper part of the wall.

A few miles from here, there’s the city of Vicuña, birthplace of the great Chilean poet Gabriela Mistral. Here we can visit the Bauer tower, the old town council, and main square of Vicuña, decorated with sculptures and with original Vicuñas motives.

Then we will visit a Pisco factory where we will learn about the process of making this delicious drink, and of course we will taste the different varieties of this Chilean Pisco.

We will stop, then, in a tipical restaurant to enjoy of its delicious food.

We continue our trip heading to the town of Montegrande, a small town in which Gabriela Mistral lived as a child. We will visit here the school-house museum in which we will know about the life and work of Gabriela Mistral. Later in the afternoon we will end our trip in a small town initially called “La Union” and since 1930’s called Pisco Elqui.

After the tour through the Elqui valley we return to the city of Vicuña waiting for the transfer to the Mamalluca observatory.

Touching the stars in the Mamalluca observatory

The Mamalluca tourist observatory started as visionary school project in 1995 that was carefully developed and finally inaugurated in 1998. Here the tour starts with an introductory talk about astronomy in charge of a specialized guide. Then we enjoy a marvellous journey trough our skies, visiting stars and constellations with the help of telescopes placed in the terrace of the observatory. Besides with your bear eyes you can observe planets like Jupiter, Saturn and Mars or the constellations of Orion, Taurus, Sagittarius, Scorpion and the Southern Cross (Crux).

We will also enjoy watching the famous Magellan Clouds, two satellite galaxies very similar to our own galaxy that can be seen only from the south hemisphere.

Finally we go to the Mamalluca observatory main dome where a guide with a good knowledge about the southern sky will show you, with the help of an electronic telescope, objects in the deep universe like the Nebula 30 Doradus, the Open Cluster M47 or the open cluster the Jewel box located in the constellation of Crux.

After this amazing experience we return to La Serena.

Included:

• Transfers
• Guide
• Lunch in a Restaurant
• Ticket museum Gabriela Mistral
• Ticket  Mamalluca Observatory

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Tour Pangue Observatory

Pangue is an ambitious project that is still being developed. Today is already running, but in the future plans to become in the best of its kind, even more, they want to be worldwide recognize in the field of astronomic tourism. To accomplish this ambitious task they have implemented the best telescope for amateur astronomy in Chile and count with the best professionals in this matter.

Pangue observatory is located 10 miles to the south of Vicuña, in the middle of the mystic Elqui valley, at  1.500 mts (4.900 ft aprox.) elevation, just an hour and a half from La Serena. This is a unique place, the only human constructions visible from Pangue are the scientific observatories Cerro Tololo and Gemini. But the most outstanding thing is the quality of the sky, the result of the combination of light pollution absence and good weather. This is one the reason why astronomers and professional observatories are still interested in the Elqui Valley, even today. Now the valley is waiting for the construction of the LSST, a reflector telescope with a special camera that will take beautiful pictures of the universe.

The visit to this observatory begins with an introductory talk made by the observatory guides. One of the advantage of Pangue observatory in comparison with the rest of touristic observatories is the human team: the only tourist observatory directed by experts (astronomers, teachers and astrophotographers). The talks are very clear and instructive and they work with small groups in order to make everyone to understand and participate in a better way. No more than 12 people.

Now the technical equipment they have consist in one 12″ telescope, a 16″ telescope and a Dobsonian 25″ telescope, making the Pangue observatory, the one with the best telescopes in Chile.

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Astronomic Route

The trip begins at 8 o’clock in the morning, when the classic morning mist gives way to one of the clearest skies in the world: the ones of the Elqui Valley. This are the amazing skies we will discover along our route.

Our first stop is located 55 miles southeast from La Serena at 2.200 meters above sea level in the Elqui province, a real monument to Astronomy: the Observatory Cerro Tololo.

The most famous astronomic center is, according to the Aymara language, at “the edge of the abyss”. This is the meaning of its name, one that gets full of sense once you reach the top. From up there you can observe the infinite landscape of the valley and the mountains.

In the observatory a specialized guide will show us the facilities, huge domes where the telescopes that permit the astronomical research are kept. We will know the telescopes and the way they work, as we learn also about the origin of the universe.

Every year more than a hundred visitors and students from more than 50 institutions in the world travel to this place to develop astronomic researches. The main reason why we cannot visit this observatory at night and make observations is because this instruments are always being used by professionals. In spite of that the landscapes, the interesting talks and the close view we ca get of this professionals telescopes make the visit worthwhile.

After the visit to Tololo, we go to the Solar Stoves restaurant located in little town of Villaseca. Here all the food is prepared, as the name indicates, with solar energy captured by this special stoves.

Now is time for us to go deep in the valley to the towns near the cordillera: Pisco Elqui and Montegrande, where we can enjoy the sun and take a walk for their lovely streets. Then we’ll go to Vicuña, the main city of the valley and birthplace of our great poet, Nobel prize winner, Gabriela Mistral.

At dusk, we’ll gonna make our last visit, the most spectacular of our trip: the observation of the Elqui stars in a tourist observatory. Here we can make use of the astronomical observation equipment and enjoy of good talks about the universe from real experts in this matter. Just the perfect end for a day dedicated to enjoy the gifts of our skies.

Included:

• Trasfer
• Guide
• Lunch at Cocinas Solares restaurant
• Ticket Tourist Observatory

Note: Tour subject to weather conditions.

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