The Astronomical Characteristics of Andean Sites

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GiovanelliAST 9910136In the last third of a century, instruments in space have brought forth great advances to our understanding of the cosmos. Yet, in transparent or semi-transparent atmospheric windows ground-based observatories maintain important advantages in terms of versatility, flexibility, size and , at much lesser cost, propel new technical developments and seminal research. The sites for such observatories are in dry, high altitude locations where air flow tends to be nearly laminar. This proposal aims at characterizing the astronomical properties of a region in the high Atacama Desert in northern Chile, which may turn out to be the best on Earth.***