Cerro Armazones
Mountain in Chile / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cerro Armazones is a mountain located in the Sierra Vicuña Mackenna of the Chilean Coast Range of Andes, approximately 130 km (81 mi) south-east of Antofagasta in the Antofagasta Region, Chile. The mountain is located in a privileged zone for optical astronomy because it has 89% cloudless nights a year.[1] On 26 April 2010, the European Southern Observatory Council selected Cerro Armazones as the site for the planned Extremely Large Telescope (ELT); the construction began in June 2014,[2][3] and the first light is expected in 2027.[4] Before the construction of the ELT began, the elevation of Cerro Armazones had been 3,064 metres (10,052 ft),[4][5] but now the top is truncated and the resulting plateau is several meters lower.
Cerro Armazones | |
---|---|
Highest point | |
Elevation | 3,046 m (9,993 ft) |
Coordinates | 24°35′21″S 70°11′32″W |
Geography | |
Location | Antofagasta Region, Chile |
Parent range | Cordillera Vicuña Mackenna |
On the neighbouring hill, 1 km (1 mi) to the southwest and 230 m (755 ft) below Cerro Armazones, there is the Polish astrophysical observatory, the Cerro Armazones Observatory, managed by the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw; observations are conducted by the Araucaria Project.