The world’s largest telescopes are threatened by light pollution

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The world’s largest telescopes are threatened by light pollution

By admin, Ocak 21, 2025

The world’s largest telescopes are threatened by light pollution





The world's largest telescopes are threatened by light pollution



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The pristine night sky above one of the world’s most important astronomical observatories is under grave threat and astronomers are sounding the alarm. It belongs to the European Southern Observatory in Chile. Very Large Telescope (VLT), a $10 billion project planned to be built just a few kilometers away. colossal renewable energy complex It faces a great danger of light pollution due to light pollution.

Xavier Barcons, Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), said in his statement that astronomers will work with the surroundings of the observatory along with the project. The sky becomes 10 percent brighter He stated that they were waiting for him to arrive. This increase could cause the VLT to lose its status as the world’s most prestigious observatory, making the telescope an “average” observatory.

May prevent critical observations from being made




The world's largest telescopes are threatened by light pollution



See Full Size


Barcons points out that this 10 percent increase will have a larger impact than expected. Increasing light pollution is currently the worst uninspiring could prevent 30 percent of galaxies from being observed. The VLT’s extraordinary sensitivity has enabled groundbreaking discoveries such as the first direct image of an exoplanet and the revelation of the cosmic web structure. But if the sky becomes brighter, this ability will disappear.

The energy complex in question is a US energy giant. AES planned by INNA Renewable Energy Park. This project will cover an area of ​​7,400 acres in Chile’s Atacama Desert. solar power plants, wind turbines and hydrogen production will include facilities. According to ESO’s calculations, this park could emit as much light into the night sky as a city of 20,000 inhabitants.

This project threatens ESO’s $840 million telescope. It will also affect ESO’s new $1.5 billion telescope, the Extremely Large Telescope. Both telescopes were carefully positioned in the most remote areas of the Atacama to take advantage of the planet’s darkest night sky. ESO and its 16 member countries selected the site after an extensive global survey to ensure ideal observing conditions.

Barcons states that ESO is not against the facility, but that building the facility so close poses a problem, and that the problem will be eliminated if the energy complex is built at least 50 kilometers away from the observatory. On the other hand, the renewable energy project is currently at an early stage and awaiting approval.

Satellites are also a problem

In recent years, other ground-based observatories such as the VLT have also raised alarms about light pollution. Light pollution does not only occur with the illumination of areas close to these observatories; Increasing density in orbit also poses a problem. Previously SpaceX Starlink It was stated that the satellites affected the observations due to their brightness. Starlink and other similar satellite constellations, whose numbers are rapidly increasing in orbit, are turning into a bigger problem on this basis.

























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