Under the Atacama Night in National Geographic Traveller UK
In August 2024, the Atacama sky made it into the pages of National Geographic Traveller UK .
As part of an international campaign by Chile Travel , Rodrigo Zúñiga was chosen to talk about astrotourism in San Pedro de Atacama, his own relationship with stargazing, and how Chile has become one of the world's great destinations for stargazing.
The article, written by Elizabeth Bennett and published under the title Where to go stargazing in Chile according to a local astronomer , explores some of the most important places in the country for astronomical observation and presents Rodrigo as the author, sky observer and creator of Under the Atacama Night .
An invitation to talk about heaven
The interview began with a seemingly simple question: how did Rodrigo become interested in astronomy?
The answer doesn't begin with a telescope or a particularly clear night.
Rodrigo grew up in Concepción, in southern Chile, and studied English and French before arriving in the Atacama Desert to work as a translator for astrotourism activities. It was after several months accompanying and translating observations that he began to make his own sky observations.
Gradually, looking up stopped being part of a job and became a way of understanding the place where I was living.
That experience ended up giving rise to Under the Atacama Night , a project that seeks to approach the sky from two places that for us are not separate: astronomy and the human experience.
In the interview, Rodrigo explains that his fascination with the sky didn't stem solely from the distances, masses, or sizes of celestial objects. It also arose from what happens when a person spends time under the sky and begins to truly appreciate it.
Every important moment has a sky
One of the ideas that runs through Rodrigo's work also appears in the interview:
“For every important moment in your life, there's a sky.”
For every important moment in our lives, there is a sky above us.
The phrase summarizes, in a way, one of the central ideas of Under the Atacama Night. The night sky is not only a space where astronomical phenomena occur. It is also a landscape that accompanies our lives.
For thousands of years, people have used the stars to navigate, measure time, create calendars, tell stories, and explain things they couldn't understand otherwise. The constellations we recognize today are also the result of thousands of years of observation and the stories that different cultures built by looking upwards.
That relationship between people and the sky is one of the themes that Rodrigo has developed both in his books and in the observations of Under the Atacama Night.
Looking at the sky from San Pedro de Atacama
The interview also addresses the conditions that make Chile a prime destination for astronomical observation.
The Andes Mountains, low light pollution, and favorable weather conditions across much of northern Chile create exceptionally stellar skies for stargazing. The Atacama Desert, in addition, boasts some of the most exceptional conditions on the planet for observing the stars.
But for us, having a good sky is just the beginning.
Under the Atacama Night , observation begins with the naked eye. Before using telescopes, we look at the sky above us: we recognize constellations, stars, and figures that have accompanied different generations of observers.
Then came the telescopes, which allowed us to get closer to nebulae, clusters, stars, and planets.
And finally, when we put aside the instruments for a moment, what remains is once again the essential: being under the sky.
A project born in the desert
The appearance in National Geographic Traveller UK was an opportunity to tell a story that for us began long before.
Under the Night of Atacama was born in San Pedro de Atacama , from years of observation, work in astrotourism and reflection on our relationship with the sky.
Today, that project brings together an astronomical observation experience, a series of books, and a particular way of talking about the night sky.
Our intention remains simple: we don't just want to talk about distances, temperatures, and sizes.
We also want to show what is not seen.
Because perhaps one of the best ways to get to know the Atacama sky is not to first learn all its names, but to spend a moment under it and discover what it means to us.
Read the full interview
Elizabeth Bennett's full article can be read in National Geographic :
The content was created for Chile Travel as part of its international promotion of Chile as a tourist destination.
And if you want to experience the sky of San Pedro de Atacama with us, you can learn about our astronomical observation experience at Under the Atacama Night .
Comments