Star Gazing In Chile Celestial Travels

Chile, the Latin American country packed with the Andes Mountain range and the Pacific Ocean, is home to conventional as well as offbeat destinations that play a picturesque backdrop to the sky that illuminates with the million and more stars visible at night.

- Mehk Chakraborty

Some days, watching a sky full of stars up top mountains or deep into the rural spaces with a shooting star or two to keep the amusement high, one is bound to feel a sense of awe and wonder. The constellations, which mark parts of the sky and the stars giving directions to travellers in older times, have now been replaced with complex GPS systems. Yet, these celestial bodies, which can be seen more clearly in Chile than perhaps in any other place on the Earth, continue to charm travellers from far and wide. It helps that Chile has an extremely dry climate, clear skies through the year and very low light pollution, makes for the best place in the planet for gazing at stars.

Even as Chile remains popular for its snow-capped volcanoes, breathtaking and surreal scenery as well as some incredible wine, star-gazing has begun to attract visitors in a significant manner only recently. Astro-tourism, a term loosely referring to travel for the sky watching, is perhaps a newer development in this country, as both dedicated observatories as well as traditional tourist destinations make for places to watch stars.

One can visit the driest place in the planet, stroll by beaches or even sip wine where it grows, awaiting the night that brings with it skies that are unforgettable.Home to a number of professional sky observatories and several tourist lodges that double up as observatories with private inventories, Chile makes for a stellar place to vacation in.

At the Atacama