Sports and leisure activities Almería

Christel, a German, and Francis, a Spanish, organise different mountain bike rides in Almeria province. Caving, trekking and climbing are also possible.

Calar Alto is located in the Sierre de los Filabres, a dozen kilometers from birds to the north of the town of Gergal, in the province of Almería, in Andalusia. It was built under the impetus of the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie. Initially used mainly by the Germans, the observatory is now also widely used, and therefore financed, by the Spanish. Construction began in 1973 to end a decade later. The site is spread over 100 km ² and remains intact from light pollution. It is now one of the largest astronomical complexes in continental Europe. Five main instruments are available: in addition to telescopes of 3.50 and 2.20 meters, the telescopes are installed under 1.50 and 1.23 meter telescopes, and a very specific Schmidt telescope of 80 centimeters diameter. The studies carried out are diverse, but one of the areas of predilection of observations remains the stars of our Galaxy (chemical composition of the interstellar medium, study of the age of star clusters or search for particular stars). The site on which all this beautiful world is located cannot leave the traveler indifferent… The soil is dry. Cacti are planted here and there. A winding, winding road climbs towards a sky of coronal blue. A real western spaghetti decor! It takes fifty minutes to reach the gates of the observatory. At this altitude, the terrain is replaced by quite dense vegetation, mixing softwood and brush. Very wild, it is the paradise of hikers and mountain bike lovers.

The highlight of the visit is the telescope of 3.50 meters in diameter! Today, essentially dedicated to infrared observations (a technological solution that allows for literally "piercing" certain difficult areas of the Universe), it is maintained, along with other instruments under dome, at a lower temperature than the outside (in order to speed up temperature temperature relative to the decrease in evening temperatures.). This also means that we must cover up when we are in the Chamber, including in the summer. Its main mirror was polished by the famous German company Zeiss, while the total mass of the telescope and its mount avoids the 230 tons! On the weather side, the site has 250 nights per year. What to observe in peace. However, moisture is not so absent that vegetation might let it think: with an average hygrometry of 50%, the sky sometimes reveals some lack of transparency. We can reassure ourselves that this is far enough to offer a high quality sky.