Article: Star gazing: set in the lunar landscape of Chile's Atacama Desert, this new residential building for astronomers has to contend with harsh extremes of climate.(review of astronomical observatory in Chile)

Extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Andes Mountains, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile is one of the hottest, driest places on earth. Sparsely populated and virtually rainless, the desert plateau is made up of salt basins (salars) and lava flows melded into a desolate, lunar landscape scorched by day, chilled by night and blasted by strong winds. Average relative humidity is around 15 per cent (well below comfort zone levels) and minor earthquakes are common. Humankind's impact on such an inhospitable place is at best precarious, yet for 3000 years, native peoples have resiliently exploited scarce natural resources to colonize the Atacama wilderness, building canals ...

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