Chile's stargazers protect 'world's clearest sky'

VICUNA, Chile (Reuters) -- Under a crystalline night sky widely touted as the world's best for stargazing, Sergio Pizarro peered over the edge of the cliff, right into the face of every astronomer's worst nightmare: light.

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About seven years ago, Pizarro remembers staring worriedly at his booming Chilean hometown of Vicuna, whose blaring streetlights threatened to blot out the otherwise immaculate view of space treasured by the numerous professional observatories on nearby Andean peaks.

"Our greatest asset, the clearest skies in the world, was in danger because of the light from the city. I think we all realized the problem needed to be confronted," Pizarro, a teacher and astronomer himself, said.

These days, a solitary telescope amid cactus plants, dust and little else, near that same cliff serves as a peculiar yet fitting monument to Vicuna's triumph over its own progress.

The professional-grade telescope, named the Mamalluca Observatory and used for academic study and astronomy tourism, was a gift of gratitude to Vicuna from another nearby observatory in return for the town's success in cutting in half the amount of light it sprays into the night sky.

Thanks mostly to a simple cap that Vicuna installed on top of its streetlights, tourists visiting the telescope can ogle at the glittering splendor of the Southern Cross as the town's copper-colored lights twinkle harmlessly in the valley below.

Now this arid region of northern Chile, already boasting a Nobel Prize winner and several renowned wineries, wants to be known as a world-class destination for astronomy aficionados searching for the perfect spot to gaze deep into the heavens.

"The whole city has gone crazy over astronomy," Pizarro said with a grin as he fiddled with the telescope he helps run. "This is my favorite toy. It's been a real jewel for our people."

Places like the "Hotel Halley" near the sleepy town square reflect Vicuna's new starry-eyed identity. But its real pride and joy is the telescope, which boasts a respectable 12-inch (30 cm) mirror and attracts visitors from all over the world.

An estimated 30,000 people have streamed through Vicuna's Mamalluca observatory since it opened in December 1998. On a crisp early autumn night recently, Australian, American and German tourists listened in with locals as a tour guide tried to convey just how awesomely big the universe really is.

"Do you realize how small we are? You are nothing. Our galaxy is just an atom of the universe," whispered Jorge Retamales as the visitors took turns squinting through the telescope at hundreds of stars in an open cluster, which looked like a brilliant dandelion scattering its seeds.

The "Norte Chico" of Chile, about 310 miles (500 km) north of Santiago, is prime real estate for many of the world's top observatories. Frigid currents in the nearby Pacific Ocean keep the air bone-dry, enhancing visibility, while the desert's isolation and 300 clear nights a year make just about any spot a virtual laboratory for sky-watching.

Indeed, while the telescope draws the tourists, most leave awed by the dizzying number of stars visible with the naked eye alone. What appears to be a permanent gray smudge across the sky is in fact the Small Magellanic Cloud, an irregular galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way 200,000 light years away that is one of the most distant objects visible without a telescope.

On this night, the 8:30 p.m. tour is considered the superior one: Jupiter makes a cameo appearance just above the horizon before changing its mind and slipping back out of sight just as vans carrying the 10:30 tour snake up the mountain.

All of these astral wonders might literally have faded from view if Vicuna had not decided to turn down its lights, said Oscar Saa, telescope operations supervisor for the nearby Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory.

"There was a bit of worry on our part at the time that the city's growth would interfere with our operations, but Vicuna's efforts have been a model for the region," Saa said.

Like most great innovations, Vicuna's campaign to reduce its light output was bred of necessity. An energy crisis brought on by drought forced the city to reduce its electricity use around 1994, Saa said.

The city switched its light source from mercury to sodium, which operates with less electricity but produces more light. At the urging of the observatories, it fitted the new fixtures with special shields that focused the lights downward, keeping glare from shining up into the heavens.

"It was perfect. It protected the sky, people spent less money, and it protected animals and plants as well," said Saa. "Animals have a natural cycle of day and night, and birds, for example, it helps them sleep. Everybody's happier."

Following Vicuna's lead, the Chilean government has passed several laws in recent years requiring cities in the northern regions to cap their ambient light output. To show their gratitude, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, an international organization to which Saa's Tololo observatory belongs, donated the Mamalluca telescope and equipment worth a total estimated at $6,000.

The mania set off by the telescope has spurred the city and federal governments to undertake a $2 million expansion plan that should include a visitors' center and another large telescope by 2003. Other attractions will include a sound stage featuring music from the region's Inca heritage.

"They didn't really see a difference between astronomy and life in general, and their music was very connected to the stars," Pizarro explained. Not since 1945, when local poet Gabriela Mistral won the Nobel Prize for literature, has the region had so much attention, he said.

But prosperity does bring its share of hangers-on. "That used to be a just a house and a couple of orange trees," Pizarro said, pointing down the hill from the observatory.

"Now it's some kind of resort. People are coming in and out of there all the time. But that's OK -- as long as they keep their lights down."

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