Paranal: Night Sky Secured – A Triumph for the Astronomers’ Protest

To the Point:

• Appeal by Nobel Laureate Reinhard Genzel and Astronomers Achieves Success: Industrial Project Halted.
• The threat posed by light pollution and vibrations to ESO Paranal has been averted.  
• Project GRAVITY and further research at the Very Large Telescope have been secured.

 

The astronomical Community sighs with relief: The unique night sky above the Paranal Observatory of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in the Chilean Atacama Desert is preserved. As the American company AES Andes has now announced, plans for an industrial-scale facility just a few kilometres from Paranal will no longer be pursued. The firm is acting in response to massive, prolonged protests by numerous researchers who viewed the planned solar and wind park as a serious threat to one of the world’s most significant telescope sites. A study conducted by the European Southern Observatory has shown that the INNA project could increase light pollution by up to 35 per cent. In addition, micro-vibrations generated by the wind turbines would greatly complicate the observational work carried out by the telescopes.

The protest was led by Nobel Laureate Reinhard Genzel, Director of the Infrared Group at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE). Together with a group of 30 international astronomers, Genzel addressed an open letter to the Chilean government, seeking public support. Previously, he had travelled with a delegation accompanying the German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Chile to highlight the threat and to seek a diplomatic resolution.

Reflecting this relief, Reinhard Genzel expressed his satisfaction that the protests were ultimately heard:

"I am very pleased that our efforts have been successful and that the planned industrial complex is to be realised at a different site. My thanks particularly go to the Chilean government and the newly elected President, Jos Antonio Kast, who have duly recognised the immense value of the Paranal night sky. I would like to emphasise once again that the conflict was never about science versus sustainability; the sole issue with the planned facility was always merely its physical proximity to the telescopes. I wish the company success in finding a more suitable location for the INNA project. Finally, my thanks go to the numerous researchers, especially my friend Eduardo Unda Sanzana, as well as the global Astronomy Community, who tirelessly advocated for the relocation of the facility and provided outstanding support for our cause. I am delighted to inform you all: world-class research at Paranal is secured!"

The Paranal Observatory

The Paranal Observatory is operated by the European Southern Observatory and is situated at an altitude of approximately 2,600 metres above sea level in the Atacama Desert in Chile. It houses some of the most powerful telescopes in the world, including the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). In addition, the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), which will be the largest telescope in the world, is currently under construction at Paranal.

The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) is involved in various projects at Paranal. For instance, the Institute developed a technology called GRAVITY that enables, through interferometry, the combining of light from the four 8-metre telescopes of the VLT into a virtually single, large telescope. Recently, the follow-up project GRAVITY was completed, during which the performance of the telescopes was drastically enhanced by the installation of wavefront sensors, adaptive optics, and laser guide stars.

Furthermore, MPE plays a decisive role in the ELT project. In the Institute’s integration hall, MICADO is currently being constructed – a six-metre-high camera that is intended to serve as a first-light instrument for the ELT in due course.