Chile’s dark skies at risk

Picture of one of the optical telescopes on the platform of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), with consists of four optical telescopes and four movable auxiliary telescopes, at the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Paranal Observatory, on Paranal Hill in Chile's Antofagasta Region, in the Atacama Desert some 1150 km north of Santiago, taken on January 27, 2025. A project to develop green hydrogen near the Cerro Paranal observatory, home to the world's most powerful optical observatory, threatens the world's darkest and most pristine skies. (Photo by RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP)

AS night falls on the Atacama desert in northern Chile, four giant telescopes turn their gaze towards the star-strewn hea­vens.

The driest place on Earth is the best place to observe the universe, with darkness offering dazzling spectacles of cosmic wonder.