A high -stakes’ confrontation has been brewed between the dried desert in northern Chile, a proposal of a green energy mega project from an international company that threatens the world’s largest optical telescope in the world. 。
For decades, astronomers have cherished Chile’s Atakama Desert as a premiere to study the universe. The sparse population is densely populated, far from the source of land -based light pollution, and most of the stars are scattered on the scattered clouds and the atmosphere of the atmosphere, which is considered to be the darkest and transparent night sky of the earth. For this reason, we have sprouted multiple world -class astronomical platforms. These main ones are the delusional astronomical platform, which is constructed and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Consortium. However, paranal facilities should be out of classes immediately with a very large telescope of $ 1.5 billion, an ESO lack of construction, or an ELT boasting an optical collection primer mirror with a diameter of nearly 40 meters in diameter. Overhead view.
Aes Corporation’s dancing, American companies, and $ 100 billion INNA (Integrated Energy Inflation Project for generating hydrogen and green ammonia) are more than 3,00 hectares (approximately 7,400 iris or more). Includes the site plan. As suggested, some of the vast INNA complex may invade paranal and its telescope to nearly 5 kilometers, and need to be redoed 10 times the energy project to relieve them. ESO officials say that it can cause catastrophic effects.
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“The excretion of dust during construction, the increase in air turbulence, and especially light pollution have an irreversible (regional) astronomical observation ability,” said INNA’s Director Xavier Barcons. I mentioned in a press release calling for relocation. The fact that AES Andes’s industrial Mega Project is close to Nal, “it brings a serious risk to the most unpopular night sky on the earth.”
The best sky on the earth
ESO has a wealth of evidence that supports the claim of the “worst night sky.” As mentioned in the press release, the 2023 study, led by Fabio Falchi, an optical pollution researcher who was a doctoral program at the Santiar Gode Postella University in Spain, was a 2023 study of the 28 major observatory around the world. I found Paranal is the darkest place. all. CERRO Armazones, a site currently built, is the second closest. Importantly, these sites are two out of six, indicating that the brightness of the sky has a sky of less than 1 % from the industrial level before the estimated industrial level. Most of the other major astronomical platform -Research, but all astronomical platforms in the US continent, two -thirds, two -thirds, are now much brighter due to light pollution, so they compromise on observation. Falchi’s research reported.
Due to the almost ideal conditions of Chile’s astronomy, it is almost 40 % of the world -based astronomy observation ability. Within the next 10 years, the number will increase to 60 %, including the current project under construction. The scientific blessings from this trend have already been revolutionary, and the telescope, which deeply staring at Atakama’s ultra -high altitude, has played a role in many major discoveries. Super Massive Black Hall. ELTs and other next -generation telescopes are ready for the groundbreaking new measurement of dark energy and the first direct image of a planned planet like a rocky earth. Masu.
As a result, Chile’s threat to the natural purity of this remote area is a threat to the present and the future of the entire astronomy on the ground. When the INNA project progresses as planned, “there is a corner and edge of exploration of the universe that can no longer be accessed.” He adds that many of these areas have been designed to investigate ELTs and other huge telescopes under development.
Micro Project for Micro Details
AES devised and designed the INNA project in response to Chile’s National Green Hydrogen Strategy. This is an action plan to make the country a global front line for renewable energy production. The blue photo has declared some chili sites as a hub for renewable energy. The complex is in one of them. In addition to the major facilities of the project, hydrogen and ammonia production plants, the Inna plan also requires thousands of solar generators, wind power generators, coastal ports and pallowlocking sites. 。
In a statement Scientific American, Aes Andes officials guarantee that partnerships with stakeholders are the top priority, maintaining the highest environment and safety standards while supporting local economic development. We are. We understand that there are concerns raised by ESO regarding the development of renewable energy projects in this area, and we promise to cooperate with all stakeholders through the environmental permission process.
The project has been designed to comply with the recently expanded regulation requirements from the Ministry of the Environment of Chile on light pollution passed in 2022. Limit light pollution of individual sites. In particular, individual facilities may comply with a 1 % limit, but it is allowed to reach a 10 % level of cumulative pollution in astronomical areas. And higher levels of optical pollution are exactly afraid that ESO officials will reach the INNA, and have a catastrophic meaning in Paranal and ELT.
Dark opinion differences
Aes Andes has disagreed with such miserable evaluation, and in that statement, both paranal and elt are “outside the important (optical pollution) shock area calculated by the project”, respectively. It is pointed out that it is “19.6 and 29 km away”. However, the ESO press release states that at least one of the project facilities is 5 to 11 km from the Nar Telescope.
Aes Andes also stated in a statement that the brightness of the sky on the telescope site would increase 0.09 % in ELT and 0.27 % in a very large telescope in the Atakama desert. However, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ESO states that the optical pollution data provided by AES is based on the old and much smaller version of INNA. According to the report, the Aes Andes team told ESO that Inna Projects can create up to 5 times more power than old versions. With this analysis, we have found that ESO can see most of the paranal telescope observation area of 5 to 10 % of the background light from the INNA project. Sky.
At first glance, it looks small, but such an increase greatly reduces the ability of the affected telescope to make it large and small. The slight increase in the brightness of the sky will make the background of the sky noisy, and then astronomers need to observe a faint object that is much longer to get a clear signal. This not only reduces the time for the telescope to observe more objects, but also cannot see very faint objects such as very early galaxies and potentially living planets. If the object is faint enough, the image will be saturated before the signal is cleared. “Having a bright sky means that your opportunity is shrinking. It’s like you have a smaller telescope,” Falch says.
BARCONS states that ESO personally presented concerns to AES last December, but submitted a few days later a reputation for the environmental evaluation system (SEIA) operated by Chile’s environmental evaluation service (SEIA). 。 “They have already announced that we don’t intend to change it,” he says.
A bright future?
ESO and Chile’s Astronomy Association (SOCHIAS) emphasizes that you don’t want to completely cancel the project. Instead, both groups are seeking Inna to move at least 50 km away from the astronomical stand. Kiara Muttcelli, the president of Sochias, believes that both projects can coexist. “Chile has the ability to become a global leader in both green energy and astronomy,” she says. However, the only response to the relocation request of Aes Andes so far is in the renewable energy hub specified as Inna defined by Chile, and “due to the robustness of Chile’s environmental impact assessment system. It was important to note that it was (trust).
Bernardita Ried Guachala, a doctor’s candidate of Stanford University, is a way to coexist. There is a lot from the development of green energy, but it should not sacrifice Chile’s astronomical physics. This is a great benefit from a partnership with a global research institution that seeks the time of a telescope crop. “From a science perspective, there are many things (Chile wins),” she said, and the national astronomers can access the “best laboratory in the world.” In fact, over the past few decades, the number of mathematics in the astronomical doctoral level has increased from five in 1990 to 40 in 2005, and Chile has been ranked 12th in the world in quotes in the annual astronomical paper. Other than astronomy, hosting the largest ground -based telescope on the earth can also bring engineering carriers, astronomical sightseeing, international investment and expansion of fame.
As part of the SEIA approval process, the INNA project must take the period in which public commentary is collected. Sokia, ESO, and major local Chile astronomers encourage the community members inside and outside the astronomy on behalf of the astronomical stand.
“The point is that this is not a random place for us for astronomy,” says Burcons. “It’s unique. There is nothing better on the earth. We have the biggest telescope there. If they do this, it will disappear forever.”
The organizer and the citizens need to provide feedback to SEIA in the project until the beginning of April. Later, the future of the project, and probably the future of global ground -based astronomy, will be determined.