Messier Channel is a
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
located in
Patagonia
Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and gl ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. It trends north–south between
Wellington Island and other Pacific islands and the continent, and is bounded on the north by the
Gulf of Penas The Gulf of Penas (''Golfo de Penas'' in Spanish, meaning "gulf of distress") is a body of water located south of the Taitao Peninsula, Chile.
Geography
It is open to the westerly storms of the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the la ...
. Southward the name of this inside passage changes first to ''
Angostura Inglesa
English Narrows (Spanish ''Angostura Inglesa'') is a contracted passage in Messier Channel in the southwestern coast of Chile. Here it is only wide, but it presents no great difficulty or danger (excepting to very long vessels) unless a vessel go ...
'' (English Narrows) and then to ''
Paso del Indio''.
The channel is named after
Charles Messier
Charles Messier (; 26 June 1730 – 12 April 1817) was a French astronomer. He published an astronomical catalogue consisting of 110 nebulae and star clusters, which came to be known as the ''Messier objects''. Messier's purpose f ...
, who was a French astronomer. It is a
fjord
In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...
in the Scandinavian sense of the word. A depth of 1,358 m has been measured in the north part of this channel, making it one of the deepest fjords in the world.
Messier Channel is surrounded by the
Bernardo O'Higgins National Park
Bernardo O'Higgins National Park () is the largest of the protected areas in Chile, covering an area of in both the Aysén and Magallanes and Antártica Chilena regions. Management of this and other national parks in Chile is entrusted to the ...
and the
Katalalixar National Reserve
Katalalixar National Reserve is a natural reserve located in an archipelago between Southern Patagonian Ice Field, and Northern Patagonian Ice Field in Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chile. The reserve was created in 1983 ...
.
The
Fallos-
Ladrillero-
Picton Channel
''Picton Channel'' (Spanish: ''Canal Picton'') is a waterway in the Magallanes Region of Chile that continues southward the Ladrillero Channel, and it runs between the Chipana Island (east) and Mornington Island (Chile) (west).
With the Ladrille ...
combination is an optional route to the Messier-
Grappler
Grappling, in hand-to-hand combat, describes sports that consist of gripping or seizing the opponent. Grappling is used at close range to gain a physical advantage over an opponent, either by imposing a Grappling position, position or causing ...
-
Wide Channel
Wide Channel is an inside passage of the Chilean Patagonia. It is long, extending northward from the junction of Concepción Channel and Trinidad Channel, to Saumarez Island. The channel is located at .Earth Info, ''earth-info.nga.mil'' webpage ...
s route between the
Golfo de Penas The Gulf of Penas (''Golfo de Penas'' in Spanish, meaning "gulf of distress") is a body of water located south of the Taitao Peninsula, Chile.
Geography
It is open to the westerly storms of the Pacific Ocean, but it affords entrance to several nat ...
and the
Trinidad Channel
Trinidad Channel is a channel in Chile that leads to seaward from the northern end of Concepción Channel, is exceedingly useful to pass out to the Pacific ocean from the Patagonian Channels in case it is desirable to avoid the possible delay occ ...
.
Just north of Angostura Inglesa (English Narrows), is the wreck of MV ''Capitán Leonidas'', a small freighter that ran aground on the Bajo Cotopaxi (Cotopaxi Bank) in 1968. The hulk provides warning as both a shipwreck and
lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid, for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways.
Lighthouses mar ...
(NGA-nr: 2068, Adm.: G 1552).
See also
*
List of islands of Chile
This is a list of islands of Chile, as listed by the National Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyCountry Files (GNS)The data was retrieved on 19 January 2013 and thwere "ISL" and "ISLS" The country has 43,471 islands, according to the Chilean Ministr ...
*
List of fjords, channels, sounds and straits of Chile
The information regarding fjords, channels, sound and straits of Chile on this page is compiled from the data supplied by the National Geospatial-Intelligence AgencyCountry Files (GNS)The NGA country data of Chile data was retrieved on 19 January ...
*
List of Antarctic and subantarctic islands
*
List of lighthouses and lightvessels in Chile
In order to mark dangerous coastlines, hazardous shoals, reefs, safe entries to harbors the Chilean authorities maintain 650 lighthouses from the boundary to Peru until the Atlantic Ocean. Information on these lighthouses is presented in the follo ...
References
Past Glaciations and "Little Ice Ages"Multilingual substratum and superstratum in the toponymy of the south of Chile(Spanish)
Piret et al. (2017) - Gridded bathymetry of the Baker-Martinez fjord complex (Chile, 48°S) v1
Straits of Chile
Bodies of water of Aysén Region
Bodies of water of Magallanes Region
{{MagellanAntarctic-geo-stub