Llano de Chajnantor Observatory

Llano de Chajnantor Observatory is an astronomical observatory located at an altitude of 5,104 m in the Chilean Atacama desert, 50 kilometers to the east of San Pedro de Atacama. It is a very dry site - inhospitable to humans - but an excellent site for submillimetre astronomy. Water vapour absorbs and attenuates submillimetre radiation and thus a dry site is required for this type of short-wavelength radio astronomy. It hosts some of the largest and most expensive astronomical telescopes in the world, with about 1 billion US dollars already allocated for projects on the site.

Chronology of telescopes

• 1999, Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) was the first radio telescope to start observations at Chajnantor
• 2002, Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE) installed at Pampa La Bola
• 2003, Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)
• 2004, NANTEN2 Observatory (NANTEN2)
• 2007, Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT)
• 2008, QUIET
• 2009, University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO)

Under construction: Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), first antennas installed in 2009

List of telescopes

Telescopes on the Llano de Chajnantor site

• Cosmic Background Imager (CBI) - decommissioned
• Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX)
• Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)
• QU Imaging Experiment (QUIET)

Telescopes on the adjacent Pampa La Bola site

• Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment (ASTE)
• NANTEN2 Observatory (NANTEN2)

Telescopes on adjacent peaks

• Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT), on Cerro Toco
• University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory (TAO), on Cerro Chajnantor

See also

• List of highest astronomical observatories
• Purico Complex

External links

• Description of a trip to Llano de Chajnantor Observatory on BBC News