Strange 160 Mile-Long “Dog-Bone” Asteroid Kleopatra Captured in Detailed Images
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), a team of astronomers has obtained the sharpest and most detailed images yet of the…
Very Large Telescope
Find the latest astronomy and astrophysics news out of the ESO VLT on SciTechDaily.com. Operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) is a visible and infrared wavelength telescope facility. It is the world’s most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary Telescopes. The four separate optical telescopes are known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, which are all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language. The telescopes can work together, to form a giant ‘interferometer,’ the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer, allowing astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes.
Astronomers Find Small Rocky Planet – Just Half the Mass of Venus
A team of astronomers has used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile to shed new light on planets around a…
Stunning Galactic Fireworks: New ESO Images Reveal Spectacular Features of Nearby Galaxies
A team of astronomers has released new observations of nearby galaxies that resemble colorful cosmic fireworks. The images, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very…
Bursting the Hubble Bubble: Powerful Ground-Based Telescope Will See Further and Clearer Than Hubble Space Telescope
Australian scientists will help construct one of the world’s most powerful ground-based telescopes that promises to see further and clearer than the Hubble Space Telescope and unlock mysteries…
First Images of the Cosmic Web Reveal Unsuspected Presence of Billions of Dwarf Galaxies
In the Universe, galaxies are distributed along extremely tenuous filaments of gas millions of light years long separated by voids, forming the cosmic web. The…
Mysterious Interstellar Visitor May Be the Most Pristine Comet Ever Found
New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) indicate that the rogue comet 2I/Borisov, which is only the second and most…
New Clues About Early Universe From Black Hole Powered Cosmic Jet 13 Billion Light-Years From Earth
Quasar also can serve as ‘beacon’ for studying closer objects. Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and Very…
Astronomers Have Discovered the Most Distant Source of Radio Emission Ever Known – 13 Billion Light-Years Away
With the help of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have discovered and studied in detail the most distant source of…
“Game-Changing” New Way to Look for Planets That Could Harbor Life
New capabilities developed by an international team of astronomers make it possible to directly image planets that could potentially harbor life within the habitable zone…
Puzzling Six-Exoplanet System Discovered With Resonant Rhythmic Movement
Using a combination of telescopes, including the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have revealed a system consisting of six…
Stars and Skulls: Eerie Nebula Revealed in Astounding Detail
This ethereal remnant of a long dead star, nestled in the belly of The Whale, bears an uneasy resemblance to a skull floating through space….
Front-Row Seats to Star’s Death by Spaghettification
Astronomers have captured the last moments of a star just before it was ripped apart by a black hole. The violent occurrence—called a tidal disruption…
Galaxies Trapped in the Web of a Supermassive Black Hole – Cosmic “Spider’s Web” of Gas Extends Over 300 Times the Size of the Milky Way
With the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less…
A Warped Disc “Torn Apart by Stars” Discovered in a Triple Tatooine-Like System
Pioneering new research has revealed the first direct evidence that groups of stars can tear apart their planet-forming disc, leaving it warped and with tilted…
Planet-Forming Disc Ripped Apart by Its Three Central Stars – Leaving It Warped and With Tilted Rings
A team of astronomers have identified the first direct evidence that groups of stars can tear apart their planet-forming disc, leaving it warped and with…
Stunning Shimmering Space Butterfly Captured by Very Large Telescope
Resembling a butterfly with its symmetrical structure, beautiful colors, and intricate patterns, this striking bubble of gas — known as NGC 2899 — appears to…
VLT Telescope Captures First-Ever Image of a Multi-Planet System around a Sun-like Star
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) has taken the first-ever image of a young, Sun-like star accompanied by two giant exoplanets. Images…
A Cosmic Mystery: Disappearance of a Massive Star Surprises Astronomers
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered the absence of an unstable massive star in a dwarf galaxy. Scientists think…