University of the Andes station

High in the Venezuelan Andes near Mérida, the University of the Andes once planned an astronomical station at 3,600 metres, a site that was ultimately never completed.

About University of the Andes station

Assigned the IAU observatory code 302, the planned station was intended for the same high-altitude Andean setting later used successfully by the Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory, a separate facility built at the same elevation and now operated by Venezuela's Centro de Investigaciones de Astronomía (CIDA).

Location & getting there

The planned site sits at roughly 3,600 metres in the Andes near Mérida, in western Venezuela, a region prized for its high altitude and thin, clear air.

Visiting University of the Andes station

Because this particular station was never built, there is no facility to visit at this location; travellers drawn to Andean astronomy can look instead to the operating Llano del Hato National Astronomical Observatory nearby.

See your named star from here

Even where a planned observatory never came to be, the sky above it hasn't gone anywhere. Once you've named a star with Star Register, use our catalogue to find its coordinates and view it from a working observatory in the region or with your own telescope.