La Serena, Chile in the context of Penco

The Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is an astronomical observatory located on the summit of Mt. Cerro Tololo in the Coquimbo Region of northern Chile, with additional facilities located on Mt. Cerro Pachón about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) to the southeast. It is approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) east of La Serena, where support facilities are located. The principal telescopes at CTIO are the 4 m Víctor M. Blanco Telescope, named after Puerto Rican astronomer Víctor Manuel Blanco, and the 4.1 m Southern Astrophysical Research Telescope, which is situated on Cerro Pachón. Other telescopes on Cerro Tololo include the 1.5 m, 1.3 m, 1.0 m, and 0.9 m telescopes operated by the SMARTS consortium. CTIO also hosts other research projects, such as PROMPT, WHAM, and LCOGTN, providing a platform for access to the southern hemisphere for U.S. and worldwide scientific research.

La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere and was the first in Chile to be used by ESO.

The La Silla telescopes and instruments are located 150 km northeast of La Serena, on the outskirts of the Atacama Desert, one of the driest and most remote areas in the world. Like other observatories in this region, La Silla is far from sources of light pollution and, like the Paranal Observatory—home to the Very Large Telescope—it has some of the darkest night skies on Earth.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, formerly the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), is an astronomical observatory in Coquimbo Region, Chile. Its main task is to conduct an astronomical survey of the southern sky every few nights, creating a ten-year time-lapse record, termed the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (also abbreviated LSST). The observatory is located on the El Peñón peak of Cerro Pachón, a 2,682-meter-high (8,799 ft) mountain in northern Chile, alongside the existing Gemini South and Southern Astrophysical Research Telescopes. The base facility is located about 100 kilometres (62 miles) away from the observatory by road, in La Serena.

The observatory is named for Vera Rubin, an American astronomer who pioneered discoveries about galactic rotation rates. It is a joint initiative of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science and is operated jointly by NSF NOIRLab and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Since at least 2010 Chile's has each year produced 0.6% to 0.7% of all iron mined in the world. Production has risen from 6.8 million metric tonnes in 2010 to more than 10 million metric tonnes each year beginning 2021. As of 2023 about 15% of the value of Chilean iron exports comes from iron ore pellets and the remaining from bulk ore. The northern regions of Atacama and Coquimbo hosts all iron mining in Chile. Until 2014 Antofagasta Region was also active in iron mining. In the 2014–2023 period iron ore has stood each year for 0.9 to 2.6% of the total value of Chilean exports. Most iron ore mined in Chile is exported to China and far behind South Korea and Bahrain are important markets.

Mining of iron ore deposits along the Chilean Iron Belt have been facilitated by their proximity to the ports of export at the coast, and this had in particular had an impact for the economic viability of small iron ore deposits. Compañía Minera del Pacífico (CMP) is the largest iron mining company in Chile and is through its parent company Compañía de Acero del Pacífico (CAP) the sole iron-mining member of Consejo Minero. Compañia Minera del Pacífico has three main mines each with its own port for export. Near Copiapó the company owns Cerro Negro Norte mine which uses the port of Punta Totoralillo, further south the company is in ownership of Los Colorados mine which uses the port of Guacolda II, and near the city of La Serena El Romeral mine is operated using the port of Guayacán in Coquimbo.

The Coquimbo Region (Spanish: Región de Coquimbo, pronounced [koˈkimbo]) is one of Chile's 16 administrative regions. It is located approximately 400 kilometres (250 mi) north of the national capital, Santiago. The region is bordered by the Atacama Region to the north, the Valparaíso Region to the south, Argentina to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west.

The capital and largest city is La Serena. Other significant cities include Coquimbo, a major seaport, and Ovalle, a center for agriculture.

Cerro Pachón is a mountain in central Chile, located east of the city of La Serena in the Coquimbo Region. The mountain is seismically active, with a magnitude 5.6 earthquake impacting the summit on April 30, 2012. Along with Cerro Tololo, this mountain forms part of the surrounding El Totoral Reserve that is owned by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) Observatory. It is the site of the 8.1 m Gemini South Telescope of the Gemini Observatory, the 4.1 m SOAR optical imager, and the 8.4 m Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

The mountain site has arid, desert conditions with cacti, shrubs, and wildflowers dotting the landscape. It is host to fauna that include Andean condor, viscachas, and the occasional fox, as well as typical desert species such as lizards, snakes, spiders, and scorpions. There is a rock art site thought to associated with the El Molle culture, 300 BC to 800 AD.

Los Vilos (From mapuche: Filu, ‘snake’) is both a Chilean coastal commune and a coastal city with over 9,000 inhabitants (18,275 in comuna), located in the Province of Choapa, part of the IV Region of Coquimbo. The city has a harbour called Puerto Punta Chungo, that ships the material of Los Pelambres mine. Fishing is one of its main activities. The city also has a significant amount of tourism, mainly due to its two beaches: La Principal and Las Conchas. It is located at 246 kilometres (153 mi) from La Serena and 246 kilometres (153 mi) from Santiago.

The city was founded in 1830, and was declared a minor harbor in 1855.