SLODAR instrument at Paranal

This small telescope feeds an instrument that monitors the vertical profile of the atmospheric turbulence, using the so-called “Slope Detection and Ranging (SLODAR)” technique. The instrument, developed by Durham University and ESO, was installed at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in March 2011 for a statistical characterisation of the site, and is seen here during its commissioning process. In the background, on the right, the enclosure of the 8.2-metre Yepun telescope is partially visible. The two fuzzy spots to the upper left of the Yepun telescope are, on the left and right respectively, the Large and the Small Magellanic Cloud, neighbouring galaxies of the Milky Way. A person who entered the field of the photo camera also appears as a “ghost”, on the lower right of the picture.