Collowara Tourism Observatory — Attraction in Andacollo

Wonderful place, interesting topics, wonderful views and one of a kind experience. We visited the place on Dec 23th, there was a pilgrimage in the town of Andacollo, the observatory is about 6 km uphill from the busy village. We got there at 8pm, we were welcomed in the building at 21:15, the tour started at about 9:45 and completed late at midnight since there was no other group after us that night. We had Javiera as our guide that night and she was great. She was explaining everything we spotted in the sky, the constellations, stars, the planets and more. She interacted with our group of a dozen in Spanish and she answered all questions. I totally recommend it to all visitors, it's only 1 hour drive from La Serena. Take your time to get there if you are driving, it is a tough drive; expect a lot of turns, u-turns and...

Dark sky area definitely. Milky way came out totally,along with all southern hemisphere famous constellations worth studying,without any imagination required. Cassini telescope in dome gave me fantastic experience to witness famous planets like Jupitor with brown stripes and some of its largest moons,or Saturn and its thick ring, to name a few. Between group lecture,if not in hurry or have spared time at least 15 min, in dark sky area behind observatory was the best place to fullfill my own astrophotography projects. I barely need no startracker for this because the sky was picth black, cloudless and wind was so gentle. I lkie this...

Our guide was a nice person and explained everything she was able to in a manner that helped us understand properly all we had to know, plus she answered all our questions with patience and dedication. The view is amazing, and the stars look precious in the sky from Collowara Observatory. Highly recommended for tourists and people who'd like to understand a bit more about...