Paranal Observatory

Telescopes

Aerial view

From an aerial view of the Paranal Observatory, the four large units of the VLT with their four small, dome-shaped auxiliary telescopes can be clearly seen. The Survey Telescope, VST, is immediately adjacent to the VLT and seen in between two of its units, while VISTA is located on a secondary peak, some 1,500 m away in the background (see image).

Very Large Telescope

Main article: Very Large Telescope

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) consists of four 8.2-metre telescopes operating in the visible and infrared. These telescopes, along with four smaller auxiliary telescopes, are also combined to operate as an optical interferometer on certain nights of the year. All of the 8.2-metre telescopes have adaptive optics and a full suite of instruments. The primary mirrors of the main telescopes are 8.2 meters in diameter but, in practice, the pupil of the telescopes is defined by the secondary mirrors, effectively limiting the usable diameter to 8.0 meters.

VISTA Survey Telescope

Main article: VISTA (telescope)

VISTA is the Visible & Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, a 4.0-metre telescope with a wide field of view, focusing on infrared surveys of the sky. It was built close to ESO's VLT by a consortium of 18 universities from the United Kingdom, led by Queen Mary University of London. VISTA was handed over to the European Southern Observatory in December 2009.

VLT Survey Telescope (VST)

Main article: VLT Survey Telescope

The VLT Survey Telescope or VST is a 2.6-metre telescope with a wide field imager intended to aid the four Very Large Telescope (VLTs) in their scientific aims.

Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS)

Main article: Next-Generation Transit Survey

The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) is an exoplanet-survey facility located a few kilometers from the main peak. It consists of an array of twelve 0.2-meter robotic telescopes with a very large field of view of 96 square degrees or several hundred times the area of the full moon. The survey aims to discover numerous super-Earths and Neptune-sized planets around nearby stars, using transit photometry to detect them. NGTS is managed by a partnership of seven academic institutions from Chile, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and its design is based on the SuperWASP project. Science operations began in early 2015. |access-date=22 May 2015 |access-date=3 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150531140608/http://www.ngtransits.org/ |archive-date=31 May 2015 |url-status=dead

SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO)

Main article: SPECULOOS

The SPECULOOS Southern Observatory (SSO) consists out of four telescopes, called Europa, Io, Callisto, and Ganymede. ESO hosts the 1-meter telescopes and the project is led by the University of Liège. The project aims to find exoplanets around ultracool dwarf stars and brown dwarfs. The project builds on the success of the TRAPPIST telescope. The telescopes are located next to the NGTS.

Other buildings

As well as the telescopes, control buildings and maintenance facilities, Paranal has a Residencia which provides accommodation for staff and visitors. This is located 200 m lower and 3 km from the telescopes. It is built half into the mountain with the concrete coloured to blend into the landscape. It has gym facilities, a swimming pool, a restaurant and two gardens. The construction was decorated by the Chilean architect Paula Gutiérrez Erlandsen, Marchioness of la Pica.

Gallery

Image:From a Dirt Track to the World's Leading Observatory.jpg|Main entrance of the Paranal Observatory File:360-degree Panorama of the Southern Sky edit.jpg|A 360-degree panorama of the southern sky above the Paranal platform Image:Wallpaper of Paranal and the Basecamp.jpg|The ESO Residencia (center left) and basecamp at Paranal Image:Very Large Telescope Array.aerial view.jpg|Aerial view Image:Paranal platform.jpg|Paranal platform with the VLTs, the ATs and VST File:The Next-Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) at Paranal.jpg|The NGTS with the VLT and VISTA (background) Image:Paranal Platform as Night Sets In .jpg|The platform as night sets Image:Laser Towards Milky Ways Centre.jpg|Beam of the laser guide star facility at VLT's Yepun Unit File:Paranal Time-lapse 2012(2f).ogg|Time-lapse taken at Paranal, showing the Magellanic Clouds File:Full tour of ESO's Paranal Observatory in miniature.webm|Full tour of the facility in LEGO form File:Paranal Observatory Compilation 2017.webm|This collection of video clips shows daily life at the observatory. File:Tour the Skies - potw2004a.jpg|Tour the Skies File:Colour in the air - Potw2007a.jpg|Colour in the air File:SPECULOOS Observatory eso1839a.jpg|Three of the SPECULOOS telescopes

Popular culture and other uses

To illustrate the isolation of the Paranal Observatory from the lights of civilization, it is located 38 km in straight-line distance north of Paposo, population 259, the nearest community to the observatory.

The VLT hotel, the Residencia, served as a backdrop for part of the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace.

The observatory's facilities were used to stage the Pacific Alliance's fourth summit in June 2012, formally launching the organization.

On 14 March 2013, Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, accompanied by his wife, Princess Mary, visited ESO's Paranal Observatory, as part of an official visit to Chile. Their tour of Paranal's astronomical facilities was led by ESO's Director General, Tim de Zeeuw.

References

References

1. "Very Large Telescope: Requirements for Scientific Instruments on the VLT Unit Telescopes".
2. "Paranal map and safety".
3. "Proyectos—Hoteles". Paula Gutiérrez Erlandsen.
4. "Tour the Skies".
5. "Colour in the air".
6. Google Earth