• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Power Company’s Industrial Megaproject Plans Threaten World’s Darkest And Clearest Skies

January 11, 2025 by Deborah Bloomfield

The Atacama Desert in Chile is home to some of the most pristine dark skies on the planet. Among the astronomical sites, Cerro Paranal has the darkest and clearest skies – it is no accident that some of the most advanced observatories are located there. Now, all of them are being threatened by a new industrial project located just a handful of kilometers away.

Advertisement

AES Andes – a subsidiary of the US energy conglomerate AES Corporation – is planning to build hydrogen and ammonia production plants, an industrial port, and thousands of generators over an area of 3,000 hectares. That’s about one-third of the area of Manhattan.

Advertisement

The project’s environmental impact assessment was submitted by AES Chile on Christmas Eve, but the company has yet to make an investment decision. The possible locations of the megaproject are between 5 and 11 kilometers (3 and 7 miles) from the observatory, incredibly close to the European Southern Observatory sites and their pristine skies.

“The proximity of the AES Andes industrial megaproject to Paranal poses a critical risk to the most pristine night skies on the planet,” ESO Director General, Xavier Barcons said in a statement. “Dust emissions during construction, increased atmospheric turbulence, and especially light pollution will irreparably impact the capabilities for astronomical observation, which have thus far attracted multi-billion-Euro investments by the governments of the ESO Member States.”

Atmospheric stability – thanks to a region with limited air pollution, plus the lack of any nearby sources of light pollution – makes the region ideal for astronomy. The Very Large Telescope and several other telescopes are at Paranal, and the Extremely Large Telescope is being built not too far away.

“Chile, and in particular Paranal, is a truly special place for astronomy — its dark skies are a natural heritage that transcends its borders and benefits all humanity,” added Itziar de Gregorio, ESO’s Representative in Chile. “It is crucial to consider alternative locations for this megaproject that do not endanger one of the world’s most important astronomical treasures.”

Advertisement

The increase of light pollution globally is endangering the night sky, which is a common heritage of humanity. People are calling how we are becoming more and more disconnected from what the sky at night should look like “nostalgia“. And it could be affecting our health and the environment in multiple ways – just recently, a link between excessive light pollution and Alzheimer’s disease in under-65s was uncovered.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Biden to campaign with California governor on eve of Republican-backed recall election
  2. School hiring decline, worker shortages curb U.S. job growth in September
  3. Biblical Toilets Reveal Earliest Known Case Of Diarrhea-Causing Parasite
  4. JWST Spots Signs Of Earth-Like Atmosphere Around The Best Planet To Look For Life

Source Link: Power Company's Industrial Megaproject Plans Threaten World’s Darkest And Clearest Skies

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • New Nimbus COVID Variant Present In The UK, Infections Could Spread This Summer
  • Scientists Have Finally Measured How Fast Quantum Entanglement Happens
  • Why Earth’s Magnetic Pole Reversals Are So Fascinating
  • World First Artificial Solar Eclipse Created, The “Closest Thing” To HIV Vaccine Gets FDA Approval, And Much More This Week
  • “Remarkable” Pattern Discovered Behind Prime Numbers, Math’s Most Unpredictable Objects
  • People Are Only Just Learning What The World’s Most Expensive Cheese Is Made Of
  • The Physics Behind Iron: Why It’s The Most Stable Element
  • What Is The Reason Some People Keep Waking Up At 3am Every Night?
  • Michigan Bear Finally Free After 2 Years With Plastic Lid Stuck Around Its Neck
  • Pangolins, The World’s Most Trafficked Mammal, May Soon Get Federal Protection In The US
  • Sharks Have No Bones, So How Do They Get So Big?
  • 2025 Is Shaping Up To Be A Whirlwind Year For Tornadoes In The US
  • Unexpected Nova Just Appeared In The Night Sky – And You Can See It With The Naked Eye
  • Watch As Maori Octopus Decides Eating A Ray Is A Good Idea
  • There Is Life Hiding In The Earth’s Deep Biosphere, But Not As You Know It
  • Two Sandhill Cranes Have Adopted A Canada Gosling, And It’s Ridiculously Adorable
  • Hybrid Pythons Are Taking Over The Florida Everglades With “Hybrid Vigor”
  • Mysterious, Powerful Radio Pulse Traced Back To NASA Satellite That’s Been Dead Since 1967
  • This Is The Best (And Worst) Sleep Position
  • Artificial Eclipse, Dancing Dinosaurs, And 50 Years Of “JAWS”
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version