A green energy plant expected to be built in Chile’s Atacama Desert could increase night-time sky brightness at one of the world’s most valuable astronomical locations by up to 35%, a new study has revealed.
Such an increase would seriously affect the scientific observations conducted by some of the world’s largest and most expensive telescopes, hampering scientific progress in our understanding of the most intriguing phenomena in the universe.
The astronomical site in peril is Mount Paranal, where the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located. A 7,400-acre (3,000-hectare) green hydrogen production facility, dubbed INNA, has been proposed by U.S. company AES Energy, which submitted an environmental impact assessment to the Chilean Environmental Impact Agency in late December. While an AES Energy spokesperson previously told Space.com earlier that the project will cause a “maximum increase over the natural sky brightness” over Paranal by a negligible 0.27%, ESO’s experts foresee a much more significant impact.
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