1 00:00:01,520 --> 00:00:06,520 Looking up 2 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:15,520 167,000 years ago, a star exploded in a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. 3 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,020 At the time of the distant explosion, 4 00:00:21,020 --> 00:00:24,520 Homo sapiens just started to roam the African savannah. 5 00:00:27,520 --> 00:00:30,520 But no one could have noticed the cosmic fireworks, 6 00:00:30,520 --> 00:00:35,520 as the blast of light had only just embarked on its long journey towards Earth. 7 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:42,020 By the time light from the supernova had completed 98% of its journey, 8 00:00:42,020 --> 00:00:47,020 Greek philosophers had just started to think about the nature of the cosmos. 9 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:51,520 Just before the light reached Earth, 10 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:56,520 Galileo Galilei trained his first primitive telescopes on the heavens. 11 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,520 And on 24 February 1987, 12 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:08,020 when photons from the explosion finally rained down on our planet, 13 00:01:08,020 --> 00:01:12,520 astronomers were ready to observe the supernova in great detail. 14 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:16,520 Supernova 1987A 15 00:01:17,290 --> 00:01:18,980 flared up in the southern sky – 16 00:01:18,980 --> 00:01:21,960 unobservable from Europe or the United States. 17 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:26,520 But by this time, ESO had built its first big telescopes in Chile, 18 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,520 providing astronomers with a front-row seat to this cosmic spectacle. 19 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,020 The telescope is of course the central tool 20 00:01:36,020 --> 00:01:40,520 that allows us to unravel the secrets of the Universe. 21 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:45,520 Telescopes collect far more light than the unaided human eye, 22 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:50,520 so they reveal fainter stars and let us peer deeper into space. 23 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,520 Like magnifying glasses, they also show finer detail. 24 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:02,520 And, when equipped with sensitive cameras and spectrographs, 25 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,520 they provide us with a wealth of information about planets, stars and galaxies. 26 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:18,520 ESO’s first telescopes on La Silla were a mixed bunch. 27 00:02:18,520 --> 00:02:21,520 They ranged from small national instruments 28 00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:24,520 to large astrographs and wide-field cameras. 29 00:02:34,520 --> 00:02:38,520 The 2.2-metre telescope – now almost 30 years old – 30 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,520 is still producing some of the most dramatic views of the cosmos. 31 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:25,520 At the highest point of Cerro La Silla 32 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:31,520 lies the biggest achievement of ESO’s early years - the 3.6-metre telescope. 33 00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:36,520 Aged 35, it now leads a second life as a planet hunter. 34 00:03:38,520 --> 00:03:43,020 Also, Swedish astronomers built a shiny dish fifteen metres across 35 00:03:43,020 --> 00:03:47,520 to study microwaves from cool cosmic clouds. 36 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:53,520 Together, these telescopes have helped to unveil the Universe in which we live. 37 00:04:07,520 --> 00:04:11,520 Earth is just one of eight planets in the Solar System. 38 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:19,520 From tiny Mercury to giant Jupiter, 39 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:26,020 these rocky spheres and gaseous balls are the leftovers from the formation of the Sun. 40 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,520 The Sun, in turn, is a middle-of-the-road star in the Milky Way galaxy. 41 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:42,520 One pinprick of light amidst hundreds of billions of similar stars — 42 00:04:42,520 --> 00:04:47,520 as well as bloated red giants, imploded white dwarfs, 43 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:50,520 and rapidly spinning neutron stars. 44 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:56,520 The spiral arms of the Milky Way are sprinkled with glowing nebulae, 45 00:04:56,520 --> 00:04:59,520 spawning bright clusters of newborn stars, 46 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:04,520 while old globular clusters slowly swarm about the galaxy. 47 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:14,020 And the Milky Way is just one of countless galaxies in a vast Universe, 48 00:05:14,020 --> 00:05:19,520 which has been expanding ever since the Big Bang, almost fourteen billion years ago. 49 00:05:27,520 --> 00:05:32,520 Over the past fifty years, ESO has helped to uncover our place in the Universe. 50 00:05:32,520 --> 00:05:36,520 And by looking up, we have also discovered our own origins. 51 00:05:37,020 --> 00:05:43,020 We are part of the big cosmic story. Without stars, we wouldn’t be here. 52 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:50,520 The Universe started out with hydrogen and helium, the two lightest elements. 53 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:56,520 But stars are nuclear ovens, turning light elements into heavier ones. 54 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,520 And supernovae like 1987A 55 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:06,520 seed the Universe with the products of this stellar alchemy. 56 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:13,520 When the Solar System formed, some 4.6 billion years ago, 57 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,520 it contained trace amounts of these heavier elements. 58 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:22,520 Metals and silicates, but also carbon and oxygen. 59 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:28,520 The carbon in our muscles, the iron in our blood, and the calcium in our bones, 60 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,520 were all forged in an earlier generation of stars. 61 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:35,520 You and I were literally made in heaven. 62 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,520 But answers always lead to new questions. 63 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,520 The more we learn, the deeper the mysteries become. 64 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:49,520 What is the origin and ultimate fate of galaxies? 65 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:58,520 Are there other solar systems out there, and could there be life on alien worlds? 66 00:07:05,520 --> 00:07:11,520 And what lurks in the dark heart of our Milky Way galaxy? 67 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:26,520 Astronomers were clearly in need of more powerful telescopes. 68 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,520 And ESO provided them with revolutionary new tools.