The University of Tokyo Atacama Observatory is located at 5,640 m on Mount Chahnantor in the Atacama Desert. It is equipped with an optical infrared telescope with an aperture diameter of 6.5 m. The design and construction of the observatory took 26 years. 🤯

Due to its location, the observatory has a number of advantages, as it covers «almost the entire infrared range», as well as the medium wave range – no other ground-based telescope is capable of this. 🔥

However, there are obvious drawbacks to the observatory: people simply can not fully operate at this altitude. The site’s builders constantly underwent medical check-ups and regularly breathed oxygen to avoid symptoms of altitude sickness associated with oxygen starvation. Scientists will have to do the same later, but full control of the observatory will be carried out remotely from the base below to avoid such difficulties.