Aerial view of Paranal (15 April 1998)

On this photo, obtained by the ESO Photographic Team from a helicopter in the morning of April 15, 1998, is seen the telescope platform at the summit of Cerro Paranal.

Much work has been done here, since the latest aerial view was obtained in December 1997 . In particular, the 30 concrete foundations for the stations for the 1.8-m Auxiliary Telescopes that will form part of the VLT Interferometer (VLTI) are now in place, together with the bases for the tracks on which these telescopes will move.

The Control Building in the front is ready and the various electronic equipment is now being installed. The future observations with all VLT telescopes will be carried out from here, as well as the continuous monitoring of the many subsystems.

The UT1, housed in the enclosure nearest the Control Building, is now almost operational and ready for the "First Light". The enclosures for UT2 and UT3 are ready and work has started on the cladding of the UT4 enclosure.