Fly on the wall of the VST

This unique fish-eye fulldome image peers down on the telescope structure of ESO's VLT Survey Telescope (VST), providing a fly-on-the-wall perspective inside the telescope's dome.

In addition to housing the telescope's 2.61-metre primary mirror and smaller secondary mirror, this structure is equipped with an enormous 268-megapixel camera. The camera, known as OmegaCAM, is the successor of the Wide Field Imager (WFI) currently installed at the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at La Silla.

The VST, which has a field of view twice as broad as the full Moon, is housed in an enclosure immediately adjacent to the four Unit Telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO's Paranal Observatory.