Laser Guide Star, Paranal Observatory
The Paranal Platform, with two Auxiliary Telescopes in the foreground is now the stage for a nice laser show. Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO); it is located in the Atacama desert of northern Chile on Cerro Paranal an 8,645 foot altitude, 70 miles south of Antofagasta. By total light-collecting area, it is the largest optical-infrared observatory in the Southern hemisphere; worldwide, it is second to the Mauna Kea Observatory on Hawaii. The Very Large Telescope (VLT), the largest telescope on Paranal, is composed of four separate 320 inch telescopes. In addition, the four main telescopes can combine their light to make a fifth instrument, the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Four auxiliary telescopes of 71 inch each are also part of the VLTI to make it available when the main telescopes are being used for other projects. The site also houses the m (100 in) VLT Survey Telescope and m (160 in) VISTA survey telescope with wider fields of view for surveying large areas of sky uniformly. Release date February 23, 2006.
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Photo credit: © Photo Researchers / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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