What a thrill! While stargazing in the Atacama Desert in Chile, my family saw a mark that Apollo 11 left on the surface of the moon. How?
First of all, the Atacama is the driest place on earth. It has an average annual rainfall of 1 millimeter. Most of the year, it has no clouds. Perfect “storm” (excuse the pun) for stargazing.
In planning our holiday trip to Chile, we made sure to include a visit to a telescope. We researched area specialists through Wendy Perrin’s WOW list. We chose to work with Tom Damon of Southwind Adventures. His team was helpful in making plans during the busiest time of the year. The icing on the cake is that by working with Wendy’s WOW list, after three trips, she arranges for a special WOW moment - a complimentary experience. Our WOW moment was a private session with an astronomer at his multi-telescoped property. I wrote up the experience as she requested and she published it in her newsletter. It’s pasted below.
 | JUST BACK FROM CHILE “We had a private stargazing evening, hosted by French astronomer Alain Maury…”
“Tom designed a Christmas/New Year’s trip to Chile for our family of six. He rose to the challenge of transporting us down and back up half the length of the continent. He organized visits to both Patagonia and the Atacama Desert, securing rooms at Hotel Las Torres in Patagonia and Explora Atacama. Both were excellent choices for their top-notch adventure staff and boutique experience.
He pretty much had to plan three trips because we originated in San Francisco, New York, and New England, and we had three different time frames. He and his staff handled the transportation logistics smoothly. And I’m not just saying this because I’m writing a review for Wendy’s WOW List, but the best part of the trip was the Wendy WOW Moment. We had a private stargazing evening, hosted by French astronomer Alain Maury, at his observatory called SPACE (San Pedro de Atacama Celestial Explorations). Above is the photo he took of us in front of one of his telescopes. Plus we have a video he recorded on my son’s cell phone where he described what we were seeing on the Sea of Tranquility on the moon—particularly the smudge where the US Apollo 11 landed.” —Barbara Schoenfeld
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I’m also pasting in the video of what we saw on the surface of the moon, narrated by astronomer Alain Maury.
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