STORIES : Chile, Land of Telescopes
Chile, Land of Telescopes back to thumbnails
The VLT (Very Large Telescope) Array is the principal instrument of European astronomy and the main telescope of the new ESO (European Southern Observatory) observatory, Paranal. It is located at about 120 km South of the city of Antofagasta, at an altitude of 2635m in the driest region of Atacama desert: Paranal offers truly exceptional conditions for astronomical observation. The VLT is considered the most advanced optical instrument worldwide. The VLT telescopes are named after objects in the sky, in the Mapuche language (Mapuche are the indigenous people living in the south of Chile). UT1 (telescopeÕs Unit 1) is named Antu (the Sun); UT2, Kueyen (the moon); UT3, Melipal (the Southern Cross) and UT4, Yepun (the evening star, Venus).