Observatorio Astronómico Nacional

This guide to the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in Bogotá follows Francisco José de Caldas, who took charge of the young observatory in 1805 despite instruments too sparse and skies too overcast for serious stargazing. A thermometer broke on one of his journeys through the Andes, and he noticed that water boils at a lower temperature the higher you climb. That kitchen observation became the hypsometer, an instrument that let him measure a mountain's height with nothing more than a pot of water.