Transcript

INSTRUCTOR:

If you want to observe the cosmos, to see the stars, you need three things-- three fundamental things. One is to have clear skies. The second is to have very, very low light pollution. And the third one is to have a very reduced low turbulence. And the best observatory will be a column, a pillar in the centre of the horizon.

And the volcanic island are very similar to these to these pillars, to these column. Tenerife, for instance, is nearly 4,000 metres. But the island, the diameter is around 50 kilometres. So this is very similar to this column,

Here, in this observatory, we have around 85% of the days of the nights clear. The light pollution is very low because we have special rules to protect the lights of the cities and towns. For me, the more important thing is the turbulence. Here, you have this wind. This is the easy wind. And this wind stabilised the atmosphere, so some nights, we have a hole in the atmosphere. And our observations are similar to space observations, to Hubble observations. So this is the main property of our observatory, the very low, low turbulence. So to be here, to be here near the mountain is similar some nights in the space, near to the Hubble telescope.