page_title: Astronomy in Chile
hierarchical_section_title: Astronomy in Chile
caption_attribution_description: English: The ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, together with ESO Council President Xavier Barcons, ESO Representative in Chile Fernando Comerón, and Director of Operations Andreas Kaufer met Michelle Bachelet, the incoming President of Chile, on 10 March 2014, the day before her inauguration. The delegation passed on their congratulations, and looked forward to a fruitful and productive collaboration between ESO and its host nation. In this picture incoming President Michelle Bachelet shakes hands with the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw.
context_page_description: Chile can be considered astronomy's world capital. In 2011, Chile was home to 42% of the world's astronomical infrastructure consisting mostly of telescopes. In 2015 it expected to contain around 70% of the global infrastructure by 2020. In the Atacama desert region of northern Chile, the skies are exceptionally clear and dry for more than 300 days a year. These conditions have attracted the world's scientific community to develop in the Atacama desert the most ambitious astronomical projects in the history of mankind.
  Chile's diverse and active astronomical community includes Chilean and international professionals and others, such as astronomers, engineers, students, teachers and amateurs.
  The first documented testimony of an astronomical measurement done in Chile is the observation of a lunar eclipse by the soldier Pedro Cuadrado Chavino. He used a classic Greek method to obtain the latitude of the city of Valdivia based on the eclipse's measurements. In 1849, during the government of Manuel Bulnes, a scientific mission from the U.S. navy led by James Melville Gilliss arrived in Chile for observing Venus and Mars to calculate the Earth-Sun distance.
context_section_description: Chile can be considered astronomy's world capital. In 2011, Chile was home to 42% of the world's astronomical infrastructure consisting mostly of telescopes.  In 2015 it expected to contain around 70% of the global infrastructure by 2020. In the Atacama desert region of northern Chile, the skies are exceptionally clear and dry for more than 300 days a year.  These conditions have attracted the world's scientific community to develop in the Atacama desert the most ambitious astronomical projects in the history of mankind.
  Chile's diverse and active astronomical community includes Chilean and international professionals and others, such as astronomers, engineers, students, teachers and amateurs.
  The first documented testimony of an astronomical measurement done in Chile is the observation of a lunar eclipse by the soldier Pedro Cuadrado Chavino (June 1582). He used a classic Greek method to obtain the latitude of the city of Valdivia based on the eclipse's measurements. In 1849, during the government of Manuel Bulnes, a scientific mission from the U.S. navy led by James Melville Gilliss arrived in Chile for observing Venus and Mars to calculate the Earth-Sun distance. The Gilliss mission established the first astronomical observatory in the Cerro Santa Lucia (Santiago). In 1852, the facilities were transferred to Chile and the National Astronomical Observatory was created.
  During the second half of the 20th century, observatories from the U.S. and Europe were installed in different locations at the north of the country: La Silla, Cerro Tololo, Las Campanas and later Cerro Paranal, Cerro Pachon and Chajnantor.
caption: The President of Chile Michelle Bachelet meets senior ESO Director General Tim de Zeeuw.[1]
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