The 'scope of the sky

Pictured here is one of the four Auxiliary Telescopes (AT) of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) sitting under the magnificent arc of our galaxy, the Milky Way. The excellent viewing conditions at the Paranal Observatory, home of the VLT, combined with the VLT's sophisticated technology allows astronomers to study the Universe in detail and advance our understanding of it. The ATs are 1.8 metres in diameter, and feed light into the VLT Interferometer (VLTI), to improve the resolution even further and produce even sharper images of astronomical objects. They can be moved along tracks to multiple locations on the VLT platform, giving the VLTI more versatility to be adjusted to suit the needs of each individual observing project.