Very Large Telescope News

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.