The APEX Observatory is located on the Chajnantor plateau which is over 5100 mts above sea level, in San Pedro de Atacama, the Center has an astronomical antenna with a 12-meter diameter. It is considered by experts as one of the best places for radioastronomical practice, in the dry Atacameño desert in northern Chile.
APEX, as known in English (Atacama Pathfinder Experiment) is operated in Chile by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It also counts with the support of the German Max Planck Institute and the Onsala Space Observatory in Sweden.
The Chajnantor antenna is set up as a wide field searcher for interesting objects that can later be analyzed in depth by one of the larger projects that is under construction, ALMA, in the very desert of Atacama.
