The Atacama Large Millimeter.
The Atacama Large Millimeter Array ALMA.
The Andes prevent rain clouds from reaching the Atacama;
Figure 5: A large amphipod recovered from the Atacama trench during ATACAMEX 2018.
Indeed, earlier this year NASA completed its second season of tests in the Atacama Desert.
Atacama's clear skies also make the desert
an ideal location for the world's most powerful telescopes.
From Siberia to the Atacama Desert in Chile, to see something called The Very Large Telescope.
Rain has never been recorded in parts of Chile's Atacama Desert, the driest place on Earth.
Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971.
At 7,500 feet, Chile's Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth
with a landscape of surreal beauty.
On the other hand, every few years, an unusually rainy period
can produce"super blooms," where even the Atacama becomes blanketed in wildflowers.
The reason why you have to build these telescopes in places like the Atacama Desert is because of the high altitude desert.
For instance the San Pedro de Atacama in the north is a small town that offers native ruins,
and a popular archeological museum.
In fact, in many spots the Atacama is so barren that there aren't even any flies because there's nothing for them to eat.
Geological and mineralogical studies show that the Atacama has been arid for more than 20 million years,
which makes it the world's oldest stretch of desert.
In 2012, for the first time since
weather records have been kept, the Atacama was hit with four days of rain so
heavy it caused floods and mudslides.
Figure 1: The Chilean benthic lander Audacia is lowered into the sea at the start of its third, and record setting dive,
to 8,081m in the Atacama Trench.
This ghost town, Santa Laura,
is one of the remnants of a largely-forgotten industry that once made the Atacama Desert one of the most valuable places in the world.
The galaxy, known as ALESS65, was observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter Array(ALMA)
in 2011 and is one of fewer than 20 known distant galaxies to contain carbon monoxide.
Shafik travelled with Journey Latin America, who offer a seven-night trip to Santiago, Iquique,
the ghost towns and San Pedro de Atacama from £2549 per person(including transfers,
B&B accommodation, excursions, and all flights).
If one visits the place in early spring they
might be lucky enough to catch the Atacama Desert blooming with flowers which is a rare
spectacle considering the desert is supposedly the driest place on earth.
On 11 August 2014, astronomers released studies,
using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array(ALMA) for the first time,
that detailed the distribution of HCN, HNC, H2CO, and dust inside the comae of comets C/2012 F6(Lemmon) and C/2012 S1 ISON.
Hardy added,“With their new benthic lander, and the experienced and talented IMO benthic lander team, Chile and its marine scientists have
put themselves on the leading edge of deep-ocean investigation of the Atacama Trench and other areas of the southern oceans.