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At an altitude of more than 2.5 miles, Lenghu “is known to have unusually clear skies,” says Licai Deng, a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-author of the new study. “At the same time, the Lenghu region has a spectacular Mars-like landscape.” Deng said the local government, which wants to attract tourists interested in astronomy and geography, has hired his team to explore the area and see if it would be a good place to build an observatory.

Four main factors influence how well any place will be suitable for astronomical research. The first is if the sky is clear – which means there are no dense cloud formations and very little light pollution. The second is the stability of local weather and weather conditions, and what effect the atmosphere will have on optical and infrared observations at night (even the smallest particles in the air can interfere). Third is whether the site is dependent on infrastructure (like power) and is accessible without too much trouble. And finally, you want an area where the night sky will be protected from human activity.

High-altitude points like Lenghu are of great interest to astronomers as there is less atmosphere when looking at objects in space. Researchers monitored the Lenghu region for three years, measuring the darkness of the sky, weather, atmospheric conditions, and more. They found that the area scored the least on all four factors as well as other potential areas studied on the Tibetan Plateau. In many ways, the researchers think it may be better than existing sites in Hawaii and Chile. There is less variability in air temperatures and more stable atmospheric conditions, and the sky is a little clearer. The amount of water vapor in the air is also low, making it particularly useful for infrared observations important to cosmology. Nearly three decades of weather records reveal an average of only 0.71 inches of rain per year. “In this context, Lenghu has the potential to host large facilities,” says Deng.

In the long run, Lenghu may be more protected from the effects of human activity than Hawaii or Chile. The town passed rules in 2017 to protect dark skies, so light pollution should remain minimal.

“The results presented for the Lenghu site are almost as good as those found for Mauna Kea, which is considered one of the best sites in the world,” he says. Paul Hickson, an astronomer who previously conducted field testing at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver Dome A in Antarctica. “One thing that’s particularly appealing about this location is the emphasis on light pollution control.”

In some ways, this new research is a confirmation of China’s current astronomy plans for the area around Lenghu. These plans include a 2.5-metre viewing survey telescope that began construction this year, a 1-metre solar infrared telescope that will be part of an international array of eight telescopes, and two more at 1.8 meters and 0.8 meters for planetary science.

As Deng points out, Tsinghua University and the University of Arizona are working together to construct the building. A 6.5 meter telescope It will operate at the summit of Mount Saishiteng. And there are new plans for a 12-metre telescope to be placed there. “The top of the mountain will be very crowded,” Deng says.

These instruments will go far in putting China on the map where infrared and optical astronomy is concerned – on par with some of the “big” telescopes operated in places like Chile. But they still pale in comparison to “extremely large” observatories built around the world, such as the 24.5-metre Giant Magellanic Telescope in Chile, the Thirty-metre Telescope in Hawaii, and the 39.3-metre Extremely Large Telescope in Chile. The kind of science these instruments can extract is expected to usher in a new era of astronomy. If China is serious about creating a more ambitious astronomy program, it will need to catch up pretty quickly.

It’s a good thing, then, that he has the Tibetan Plateau. “High, dry, isolated mountains are often the best places for astronomy,” says Hickson. “There may be other potential areas, perhaps better ones, as yet unexplored on the Tibetan Plateau.”