The Atacama desert is probably the world's premier spot for studying the stars. Most of the leading observatories have massive installations here. Why? The whole Milky Way can be seen, the air is clear, there is no humidity, little wind and no light pollution and altitude. All this adds to very favourable conditions for star gazing.
I signed up for 3 hours in the desert with an expert. We stood under a most awesome sky. The clearest I have ever seen. Our guide is an astromer from a nearby European Station. She has use of a red laser torch. She points to Saturn. The red beam shoots up and touches it. Incredible. A very useful learning tool. We go through the Southern Cross, Saturn,Jupiter and lots of constellations.
They had 8 massive telescopes set up. We looked at nebula and clusters and all sorts of stuff.
Now I thought I was a budding astronomer - something I would develop an interest in in old age - maybe even get a telescope.
This night did two things for me. On the one hand if anything it increased the wonder of the universe. On the other hand I decided the subject of astronomy and the diabolical size and complexity of the universe is just too complex for little old me. After 2 hours I gave up. I found a chair and just sat there for the remainder of the time watching the wonder of the universe - not really knowing what I was looking at and not really caring!
She showed us the Google Star Maps app - like SoundHound for stars. I plan to have a go with that and learn some basics maybe. Other than that I am relaxed I am beaten. One of the things I think might be an important factor to happiness in life is to recognise and to be fully reconciled with the fact you cannot do everything - ha!
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