World's Darkest Skies Threatened by Chilean Megaproject

The Paranal Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert, boasting the world's darkest and clearest skies, faces a critical threat. A massive industrial complex planned by AES Andes, encompassing a port, ammonia and hydrogen production plants, and thousands of power generation units, will be located just 5-11 kilometers away. This proximity will cause irreparable damage to astronomical observations due to light pollution and atmospheric turbulence. The project jeopardizes not only the existing Paranal Observatory, responsible for groundbreaking discoveries, but also the upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the world's largest. ESO urges relocation to protect this irreplaceable dark sky, a heritage for all of humanity.