An observatory atop the 2,400-meter La Silla mountain that borders the southern extremity of the Atacama desert in Chile, about 160 km north of La Serena at 29º 15' S, 70º 44' W. Operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), its instruments include a 3.6-m reflector opened in 1976, the 3.5-m New Technology telescope, opened in 1989, a 1.52-m reflector, opened in 1968, a 1-m Schmidt, opened in 1972, and 1-m photometric telescope, opened in 1968. Also at La Silla is the 15-m Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope, the Leonard Euler Telescope (with extrasolar planet detection), and a variety of other instruments owned by individual nations.
