The dry and dusty home of La Silla Observatory

This image shows the Atacama desert, home to La Silla, ESO’s first observatory, which was inaugurated in 1969. The Atacama desert is extremely dry and barren, making the observing conditions very favourable. A number of ESO's telescopes are based at La Silla Observatory, including the New Technology Telescope, the first in the world to have a computer-controlled main mirror.