Tag: ESO
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Circumpolar Star Trails Over Paranal: Nov. 25, 2025 Photo of the Day in Chile
Introduction: A night to remember over Paranal On November 25, 2025, the night sky above ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile treated observers to a rare celestial procession. A Chilean astrophotographer, Osvaldo Castillo, captured star trails that curved and looped across the dome of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) complex, revealing the movement of stars in…
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Star Trails Over Paranal Telescope Illuminate Chilean Night
Star Trails Over Paranal: A Night of Celestial Circulation On the night of November 25, 2025, the night sky above the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile offered a breathtaking spectacle. Acclaimed Chilean astrophotographer Osvaldo Castillo turned his camera toward the heavens to capture a circumpolar startrail, a continuous arc of starlight that…
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Star Trails Over Paranal Observatory: Chilean Astrophoto of the Night Sky
Stunning Night Skies Above Paranal In the desert highlands of northern Chile, the night sky offered a rare, breathtaking view for astrophotographer Osvaldo Castillo. Over the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Paranal Observatory, he witnessed and captured a circumpolar startrail—a celestial dance that traces the apparent movement of stars around the celestial pole. This image, shared…
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Tarantula Nebula: Artificial Stars via VLT GRAVITY+
Overview: Lasers and the Tarantula Nebula In a remarkable display of modern astronomy, the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has employed its powerful interferometer, the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI), in conjunction with the GRAVITY+ upgrade. The goal: generate artificial stars with laser-tired precision to probe the Tarantula Nebula, one of the most…
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Polishing a Telescope Mirror: A Closer Look at the VLT’s Precision Craft
Overview: The Art of Keeping a 25-Ton Mirror Perfect Night after night in the dry air of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) relies on its meticulously polished aluminum mirrors to capture some of the most detailed views of the cosmos. The process of maintaining these 25-ton mirrors is…
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Polishing a VLT Mirror: Precision in the Atacama Desert
Behind the Science: Why Mirror Polishing Matters In the dry, pristine skies of Chile’s Atacama Desert, the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) stares into the cosmos with unmatched clarity. The secret isn’t just advanced software or massive detectors; it begins with a single, exquisitely thin layer of metal: the aluminum coating on the…
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Polishing a telescope mirror: VLT at Cerro Paranal desert
What makes a telescope mirror so critical—and so finicky? In the world of high-precision astronomy, the surface of a telescope mirror is everything. The 25-ton (23 metric tons) primary mirrors of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) are engineered to gather faint starlight and reflect it into sensitive detectors with extraordinary accuracy. Yet just like any…