Itinerary of Modern Astronomy
Day 1: Arrival Santiago de Chile
According to your arrival at Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez Internacional Airport you will be picked up by your Eclipse City representative and brought to our hotel in the centre of Santiago.
It will be a day for arriving, getting to know the surroundings and relaxing.
In the evening we will all have dinner together to get to know each other and discuss the plan for the next days.
Overnight Santiago
Meals included: Dinner
Day 2: Santiago/Antofagasta
We will leave together for the airport and take an early flight up north to Antofagasta, the capital to the region in the north of Chile.
After having checked in our hotel and left the bags we will drive about 2 hours outside the city to visit ESO’s very large telescope and Mano de Desierto, its base camp. The base is situated on 2456m where as the telescopes are on 2600m.
During our tour we will be taken to the mountain top to see the 4 telescopes with each an 8,2m aperture. An experience we certainly do not want to miss!
Overnight Antofagasta
Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Day 3: Antofagasta/Calama/San Pedro de Atacama
In the morning we will hit the road towards Calama, where we will visit just nearby one of the largest mines in the world. The Chuquimata Mine is one of the largest open-pit copper mines: 4.3 km long, 3 km wide and over 850 m deep. It belongs to one of the most important Chilean mineral industry companies, CODELCO.
On the way to Calama we will pass by Pampa Unión and Badequano, two ghost towns along the way.
Overnight San Pedro de Atacama
Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Day 4: San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro de Atacama is a picturesque little town that grew over centuries around an oasis. The climate is very dry and mild – the perfect conditions for stargazing.
You will have the morning to walk around the town, get some shopping done or just sit outside in the sun drinking coffee and observing the local happening.
In the afternoon we leave for the Atacama salt lake, the largest salt lake in Chile and second largest in the world. The salt lake lies on 2300m and is surrounded by the big volcanoes, including the Licancabur, Acamarachi, Aguas Calientes and the Láscar.
We will watch the incredibly beautiful sunset at the salt lake before we go back to San Pedro to have dinner in a local restaurant.
At night we will leave San Pedro again to take advantage of the perfect conditions and do stargazing with our French guide that perfectly knows the Southern Sky and will help us find the constellations we all have wanted to see.
Overnight San Pedro de Atacama
Meals included: Breakfast/Dinner
Day 5: San Pedro de Atacama
In the afternoon we leave for our excursion to Moon Valley from where you can overlook the Atacama Desert, this vast and incredible landscape surrounded by big volcanoes. We will hike up one of the exaltations to watch the night fall over us.
Overnight San Pedro de Atacama
Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Day 6: San Pedro de Atacama/Calama/Santiago
After a very light breakfast we will visit the project ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array) that is the biggest astronomical project on earth and an international partnership between Europe, North America, East Asia and the Republic of Chile. This revolutionary project observing millimetre and submillimetre wavelengths is scheduled to be up and running in 2013.
Not only the modern technology of this interferometer is our adventure, it will also be our first time to be on 5000m above sea level. This project can only be realized in a very high and dry climate. Therefore the location some 40 km outside San Pedro has been chosen.
So far 7 antennas have been put up.
We will drive back to Calama in the afternoon to catch an evening flight back to Santiago.
Overnight Santiago de Chile
Meals included: Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner
Day 7: Departure Santiago de Chile
Today it is time to say good-bye and take a bag full of wonderful experiences with you that you will never forget.
We will bring you to the airport at an appropriate time for you to catch your flight.
Meals included: Breakfast
End of Eclipse City’s Modern Astronomy Services
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