VLT mount manufacture. Manufacture of the mount for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) which will be based at the European Southern Observatory site at Ce

---

VLT mount manufacture. Manufacture of the mount for the Very Large Telescope (VLT) which will be based at the European Southern Observatory site at Cerro Paranal, Chile. The mount will carry an metre diameter mirror. The mirror's weight & size is being simulated by a mock-up (brown, at lower centre). This 500-tonne azimuthal mount can rotate the mirror vertically & horizontally. The VLT will consist of 4 such telescopes mounted side by side. Together they will have the light-collecting power of a 16-metre mirror, making the VLT the world's largest optical telescope. The VLT is due to be completed soon after 2000. Photographed in 1997 at the Ansaldo Energia factory near Milan, Italy.

---

Size: 4848px × 3993px
Photo credit: © DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: america, american, ansaldo, astronomy, astrophysics, cerro, chile, construc, constructin, construction, large, manuf, mirror, mount, optical, paranal, south, telescope, vlt