An Astronomical Success Story: The La Silla Observatory

ESOcast 05: An Astronomical Success Story - ESO's First Observatory Celebrates 40th Anniversary.

ESO's La Silla Observatory, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, became the largest astronomical observatory of its time. It led Europe to the frontline of astronomical research, and is still one of the most scientifically productive in ground-based astronomy.

La Silla is a 2400-m mountain, bordering the southern extremity of the Atacama desert in Chile. It is located about 160 Km north of La Serena.

Originally known as Cinchado, the mountain was renamed La Silla (the saddle) after its shape. It rises quite isolated and remote from any artificial light and dust sources (astronomy's worst enemies). La Silla was the first ESO observatory built in Chile. Its history is full of optimism and disappointments, ups and downs, since its beginnings in the 50's until the middle of the 70's when the observatory became a reality.

http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/las...

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La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with eighteen telescopes. Nine of these telescopes were built by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) organisation, and several of the others are partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere.

La Silla is a 2400 m high mountain, bordering the southern extremity of the Atacama Desert in Chile. It is located about 160 km north of La Serena, 27 km south of Las Campanas Observatory, and 100 km north of Cerro Tololo Observatory. It rises quite isolated and remote from any artificial light and dust sources. La Silla was the first observatory in Chile used by ESO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Silla...