Mont Chiran, Mountain summit at 1905 meters in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France.

Mont Chiran is a limestone summit in the Préalpes de Digne, rising to 1905 metres in the Verdon basin. Its upper slopes are pale grey-beige with faint horizontal bands, becoming darker and more rugged below, with ridges and shallow gullies above a band of dark green vegetation. It is the second-highest peak of the Verdon Prealps after the Mourre de Chanier (1930 m), separated from it by the Portail de Blieux pass at 1595 m.

Mont Chiran is made of Upper Jurassic limestone, like the rest of the Préalpes de Digne. The mountain took its present form from the Alpine uplift about 5 million years ago. In 1974 the CNRS built an astronomical observatory on the summit; it was abandoned in 1986 and later restored by the Blieux association ABCDE with LEADER II European funds.

The observatory is run independently but remains linked to ABCDE, the Blieux association for cooperation, development and education that restored it with European LEADER II funds. Its 406 mm telescope, with a focal length of about 1.80 m and an f/4.5 ratio, is suited to deep-sky objects such as nebulae and galaxies.

The summit can be reached via hiking trails that wind through forest and mountain meadows accessible to hikers of different levels. Visitors should prepare for altitude exposure and bring proper gear, as weather conditions change rapidly at height.

The panoramic view from the summit stretches across the Verdon valley and reveals distant mountain ranges on clear days. The climb attracts stargazers because the altitude offers less light pollution for night-sky observation.