La Silla Observatory

La Silla was the first site the European Southern Observatory built in Chile, at 2,400 metres on the southern edge of the Atacama, with the first telescopes working from 1969. Its instruments have done a great deal of the work that made Chile the centre of world astronomy: the HARPS spectrograph on the 3.6 metre telescope has found a very large share of the known exoplanets by the radial velocity method, and the site was also where the light curve of supernova 1987A was followed. Public visits run on Saturdays outside the busiest observing periods, by advance booking and free of charge; they are daytime tours, not observing sessions.

History

After ESO chose Chile for its observatory in 1963, scouting parties tested several sites, and the one picked, a government-owned ridge at 2,400 metres first called Cinchado, was renamed La Silla, "the saddle", for its shape. The contracts were signed on 30 October 1964, 627 km² were bought the following year, the summit road was dedicated in March 1966, and President Eduardo Frei Montalva inaugurated the observatory on 25 March 1969; the 3.6-metre telescope began work in 1976, the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope in 1987, and the New Technology Telescope saw first light in March 1989 (Wikipedia, La Silla Observatory).

What you'll find

• ESO's first Chilean site - telescopes working from 1969.
• The HARPS spectrograph - a major source of known exoplanets.
• A ridge at 2,400 metres - on the southern Atacama edge.
• Free Saturday tours - by advance booking only.

When to go

Year round on scheduled Saturdays, booked ahead. Half a day.

Before you go

Tours are in daylight and there is no observing - you will not look through a telescope. Places are limited and book out. The mountain road is long and unsurfaced in parts. Visits are suspended in some periods.

Nearby

La Serena and the Elqui valley are south; Vallenar is north.

Key facts