Eye in sky gets blurry vision

PROBLEM: HUGE PROJECT FOR GREEN ENERGY CLOUDS UP POWERFUL TELESCOPE'S VIEW

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As night falls on the Atacama desert in northern Chile, four giant telescopes turn their gaze towards the star-strewn heavens.

The driest place on earth is the best place to observe the universe, with darkness offering dazzling spectacles of cosmic wonder.

The area is home to the Paranal Observatory, which houses the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, used by astronomers to search the Milky Way with "unparalleled clarity", according to Spanish astrophysicist Itziar de Gregorio.

Perched at 2,635m above sea level and located dozens of kilometers from the nearest town of Antofagasta, Paranal's unique atmospheric conditions make it one of the most productive observatories in the world.

The Very Large Telescope made up of four individual telescopes - produced the first image of an exoplanet (a planet outside our solar system) in 2004.

But a huge green energy project, part of Chile's plans to become carbon neutral, risks clouding the view, scientists say.