Atacama Desert
Nature
The driest desert in the world outside the poles, between the Andes and the ocean.
The Atacama stretches for about 1,000 kilometres along the coast of northern Chile. Outside the polar regions no place on Earth is drier: there are spots where no rain has been measured for years.
Mountains on both sides keep the rain clouds out. The air is so dry and clear that astronomers have built some of the world's largest telescopes here, at 5,000 metres above the sea.
- long
- 1,000 km
- dishes in the ALMA telescope
- 66
- where that telescope stands
- 5,000 m
- 1
The ground looks so much like Mars that space agencies test their Mars rovers here.
- 2
When rain does fall, once in a few years, seeds that have waited in the ground come up and the desert turns into a field of flowers.
- 3
Mummies have been found here that are about 7,000 years old: older than those of Egypt.
Question 1 of 2
Read about Chile