The Very Large Telescope (VLT) on the 2600-metre-high Cerro Paranal is ESOs premier site for observations in the visible and infrared light. It is located in the Chilean Atacama desert. All four unit telescopes of 8.2-metre diameter are individually in operation with a large collection of instruments and have already made amazing scientific discoveries.
The VLT offers also the possibility of combining coherently the light from the four UTs to work as an interferometer. The Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), with its own suite of instruments, ultimately providing imagery at the milli-arcsecond level as well as astrometry at 10 micro-arcsecond precision. In addition to the 8.2-metre diameter telescopes, the VLTI is complemented with four Auxiliary Telescopes (AT) of 1.8-metre diameter to improve its imaging capabilities and enable full nighttime use on a year-round basis.
The VLT Survey Telescope (2.6-metre diameter) is visible in the centre of the panorama.
Credit:
ESO/F. Kamphues
Inspired by his father, Fred Kamphues took his first photographs at the age of five. Ever since he has been intrigued by the the story a powerful image can tell. With a strong appetite for travel and adventure, many of Kamphues projects have epic proportions. His shoots range.. Read more…