Skies of Chile Foundation

Preserving the quality of Chile's night skies, a unique heritage in the world.

We protect the quality of the night skies.

The Skies of Chile Foundation is a private, non-profit institution founded in 2019, whose purpose is to protect the quality of Chile's night skies, an environmental, cultural, and scientific heritage that is unique in the world, which is currently experiencing progressive deterioration due to excessive artificial lighting.

Our Mission and Vision

Leaders in the Fight Against Light Pollution

Our mission

Promote, protect, and preserve the extraordinary value of Chile's skies as a natural laboratory for science and research, and as an element of cultural and recreational importance for our citizens and tourists from around the world.

Our vision

Skies of Chile Foundation aims to be a leading institution, at a national and international level, in the fight against light pollution, and in its evaluation, regulation, and mitigation; with the purpose of recovering the natural levels of darkness in our night sky.

Learn Our History

The first efforts by professional astronomers in Chile to protect the country's night skies began in the mid-1990s at the Interamerican Observatory of Cerro Tololo and were crystallized with the establishment of the Office for the Protection of Sky Quality in Northern Chile (OPCC) in the year 2000.

In 2019, a group of astronomers and people concerned about dark skies, with the support of the European Southern Observatory, Las Campanas Observatory, and the Giant Magellan Telescope, came together to create the Skies of Chile Foundation, with the purpose of deepening the articulation between communities, universities, and public and private institutions, to halt the advance of light pollution