David Galadí-Enríquez
Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Cordoba
How does such an industrial complex affect light pollution?
‘All sources of artificial light at night generate light pollution and it is well known that industrial-type installations are particularly damaging because of the type of luminaires they incorporate, in theory for ‘safety’ reasons. An installation such as the one announced would undoubtedly have a major impact on its surroundings in terms of light pollution’.
How important is the Paranal Observatory for global astrophysical research?
‘The Cerro Paranal Observatory is currently the most important observatory in the world. Although there are a few larger telescopes, there is no other observatory that includes four eight-metre telescopes with the technological quality, state-of-the-art instrumentation and sky quality of Paranal. The neighbouring Cerro Armazones will soon host the European Extremely Large Telescope and will also be affected by this industrial installation.
Is this an isolated incident?
‘No. It is a serious case because of the size of the industrial installation and the truly unique quality of the observatory it will affect, but the natural darkness of the night is degrading at great speed all over the world, with all that this implies in terms of cultural, scientific and heritage loss, but also in terms of disruption of ecosystems and natural life’.