Investigating the controversial phenomenon
Located in some of the most remote places on the planet, astronomical observatories aren't the easiest places to reach. Furthermore, many are set at altitudes thousands of meters above sea level. Yep, stargazing is an out-of-the-way science for most of us. But if you're curious, there's another way of reaching for the stars.
Browse this gallery and take a stellar tour of some of the best spots on Earth to observe the night sky.
An astronomical observatory located at the edge of the Atacama Desert, La Silla is set in one of the driest and most isolated places in the world.
Located far from sources of light pollution, scientists are able to enjoy one of the darkest night skies on Earth.
Perched at the top of Kitt Peak in the Arizona-Sonoran Desert, this observatory boasts 22 optical and two radio telescopes—the largest and most diverse gathering of astronomical instruments in the Northern Hemisphere.
Set at an altitude of 2,096 m (6,877 ft), astronomers enjoy observation time of 260 nights per year.
Located at the summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano on Big Island, Hawaii, are several astronomical research facilities and large telescope observatories.
Located at Coonabarabran in New South Wales, this facility was formerly known as the Anglo-Australian Observatory.
Numerous telescopes are operated by the observatory, including two known as Solaris-1 and Solaris-2, which detect circumbinary planets.
A huge radio telescope sunk into a lush, hilly landscape, Arecibo is operated by the University of Florida.
It's from here that in 1974 an interstellar radio message was beamed into deep space in the hope that extraterrestrial intelligence might receive and decipher it.
The facility is situated at an elevation of 4,500 m (14,764 ft), and operates two telescopes: the Himalayan Chandra Telescope and the High Altitude Gamma Ray Telescope.
Established in Edinburgh in 1896, this hallowed astronomical institution carries out research and university teaching.
While expanded and modernized over the years, the original 19th-century building includes two cylindrical copper domes on top of the East and West Towers. The East dome shelters a reflector, the West dome an astrophotographic telescope.
A popular Los Angeles tourist attraction, the Griffith Observatory houses a planetarium that was used to train WWII pilots in celestial navigation and, later, Apollo program astronauts.
Located near Socorro in New Mexico, the observatory's 27 radio telescopes each stand 25 m (82 ft) and are visually stunning.
Clustered in northern Chile's Atacama Desert are 66 radio telescopes constructed on the 5,000-m (16,000-ft) elevation Chajnantor plateau.
This facility is based at one of the most extreme locations on the planet—the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station.
Designed to map the Southern sky, the telescope is 10 meters (394 inches) in diameter.
The Very Large Telescope (VLT) facility is located on the Cerro Paranal mountain in the Atacama Desert.
The VTL consists of four individual optical telescopes, named Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun—all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language.
Today, this fully-restored Sydney landmark serves as a museum and cultural venue.
Founded in 1897, this observatory, located at Williams Bay, Wisconsin was regarded as "the birthplace of modern astrophysics."
Yerkes ceased operation in 2018, but, while closed to the public, researchers still have access to the vast historical glass plate archives at the site.
See also: Astonishing pictures of the Milky Way
The world's most spectacular astronomical observatories
A stellar tour of some of the best spots on Earth to observe the night sky
TRAVEL Space
Located in some of the most remote places on the planet, astronomical observatories aren't the easiest places to reach. Furthermore, many are set at altitudes thousands of meters above sea level. Yep, stargazing is an out-of-the-way science for most of us. But if you're curious, there's another way of reaching for the stars.
Browse this gallery and take a stellar tour of some of the best spots on Earth to observe the night sky.