The Southern Cross is already looking brighter and more beautiful than I've ever seen it when a shooting star buzzes across its face. Excited voices shatter the silence of the cold, crisp night air engulfing the Atacama Desert and the consensus among my fellow stargazers is that freezing our backsides off is worth it if we're going to see more things like this.
We're hopeful, at least. Famed as one of the driest places on earth, the Atacama is a treat for astronomy buffs, thanks to its high altitude (about 2500 metres), low light pollution and lack of cloud cover.
Such ingredients make it the perfect place for an observatory; San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations (SPACE), the open-air one we're visiting, is regarded as one of the best in South America.
Each night, the hosts – French scientist Alain Maury and his Chilean wife, Alejandra – welcome guests for astronomy sessions.
After outlining some of the most famous constellations – the Big Dipper, Alpha Centauri and, of course, the Southern Cross – Alejandra then leads us over to the telescopes, which are incredibly huge and look like robots from Doctor Who. Admiring the sky above the Atacama with the naked eye is a bit like being hypnotised by a giant velvet blanket encrusted with diamonds.
Looking through the telescopes, however, takes you into a whole new world. The images they capture are remarkable.
We get a close-up of the half-moon's craters, a glimpse at the intricacies of the Milky Way, a fuzzy look at Saturn and crystal clear views of far-flung yellow, red and blue stars. “You see that blue one,” says Alejandra. “The temperature around it is about 15,000 degrees Celsius.”
It's one of a number of mind-boggling facts we learn. We also discover there are tens of billions of galaxies outside our own and that many of the tiny specks we see are trillions of kilometres away.
Alain shines his green laser pointer towards one star and tells us that if he was to send a radio message there, it would be eight years before he received a reply – if, of course, there is life out there.
Pointing at yet another star, he says it would take 80,000 years for NASA's fastest rocket to reach it.
It's fascinating stuff and not surprisingly for a Frenchman, Alain can't resist mingling some philosophy into the session.
Yet even though there are existentialist undertones to much of what he says, his sense of humour ensures the tone is fairly light throughout and he effortlessly switches between – and cracks jokes in – English, French and Spanish.
With the wind beginning to whip up and the temperature plunging towards zero, Alain outlines a few more obscure constellations.
“And finally, there for us,” he says, pointing his zapper towards the observatory cabin, “is some hot chocolate.”
As we sit before a fire and wrap our near-frozen hands around the steaming mugs, we all agree that this is definitely the ideal end to an awe-inspiring night.
TRIP NOTES
GETTING THERE
LAN Chile flies from Sydney to Santiago and then on to Calama, a 45-minute taxi ride from San Pedro, which is the main tourist town of the Atacama Desert. See lan.com.
WHERE TO STAY
San Pedro town's official website has extensive accommodation listings. See www.sanpedroatacama.com.
STARGAZING
SPACE offers nightly stargazing tours for 15,000 Chilean pesos ($29). See spaceobs.com.
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