Chocolate hills in the middle of the desert

A vista of smooth, chocolatey hills fills this Picture of the Week. The emptiness of this aerial photo is broken only by a white round building at its centre: the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory in the Chilean Atacama desert.

Located at an altitude of around 2400 metres above sea level, the telescope started observing the sky in November 1977. This remote area has one of the darkest night skies on the Earth, allowing the telescope to observe the wonders of the night sky undisturbed. In particular, the ESO 3.6-m telescope hosts one of the most successful planet finder instruments: the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), which measures the subtle gravitational tug that planets exert on their host stars as they orbit around them.

Credit:

ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:potw2349a
Type:Fotografisch
Publicatiedatum:4 december 2023 06:00
Grootte:3840 x 2160 px

Over het object

Naam:ESO 3.6-metre telescope
Type:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Telescope
Categorie:La Silla

Image Formats

Grote JPEG
2,1 MB

Inzoomen


Wallpapers

1024x768
289,4 KB
1280x1024
468,1 KB
1600x1200
657,1 KB
1920x1200
758,1 KB
2048x1536
1019,1 KB