Why Europe Went To Chile For Astronomy | Video

In the past 50 years, the European Southern Observatory has delivered breathtaking imagery of the Southern Sky. The choice was clear on where to build some of the worlds largest telescopes.

[cristianfcao]

Short answer: The Atacama Desert is great because it's on high altitude, it never rains, it's never cloudy, it has very low humidity, it has very low light pollution. As a country Chile is also politically and economically stable.

[Chuck]

another short answer might be that the southern hemisphere is where most of the newly discovered comets are coming from. I haven't searched hard but I know of no comets whom's orbits came from our north.

[Chuck]

You still might not know it. I aint saying it's a fact but something I wish someone would research. I've watched all the fantastic newly discovered vids of sungrazers and sundiving comets and noticed they all came from below....thanks for listening. :D