... ESO is building what will be the World's largest optical telescope array, The Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT Project organisation is responsible for the design and construction of the Unit Telescopes, including enclosures, optics, adapter-rotators and coating unit. ... Unit Telescopes Overview - This page is outdated, an update is in process. ... Secondary mirror (M2 Unit) - This page is outdated, an update is in process. ... Coating Unit - This page is outdated, an update is in process. ...

... Enjoying the bright Moon's absence from early morning skies, observers around the world reported lovely displays during this year's Perseid meteor shower. ... Chasing the brief flash of a meteor trail across the sky with a very large telescope is a nearly impossible task. ... A Perseid Meteor . ... The ongoing Perseid Meteor Shower should be at its strongest tonight and tomorrow night. ... Connecting the Pipe Nebula to the bright star Antares is a flowing dark cloud nicknamed the Dark River. ...

... 2009 March 1 . Omega Centauri: The Largest Nearby Globular Cluster . ... Explanation: This huge ball of stars predates our Sun. ... Of the 200 or so globular clusters that survive today, Omega Centauri is the largest, containing over ten million stars. ... Unlike many other globular clusters , the stars in Omega Centauri show several different ages and trace chemical abundances, indicating that the globular star cluster has a complex history over its 12 billion year age. ... About APOD | ...

... 2000 January 12 . NGC 6791: An Old, Large Open Cluster . ... Explanation: NGC 6791 is one of the oldest and largest open clusters of stars known. ... Open star cluster NGC 6791 , however, contains thousands of stars recently measured to be about 8 billion years old. ... This enigma makes NGC 6791, pictured above , one of the most studied open clusters and a possible example of how stars might evolve in the centers of galaxies. ... About APOD | ...

... Today this year's largest group of sunspots will cross the Sun's central meridian. ... The next day, the number of spots in the group reached five, and the day after, on June 2nd, it was possible to count thirteen sunspots on solar disk, which had been clear prior to this. ... This year's two most powerful active areas, which passed across the solar disk at the beginning of May, 2009, are set to appear in the Sun's eastern sector in two days, on June 6th. ...

by virtue of its high galactic latitude (+51 deg), low HI column density (2.2 x 10^20), high declination (increased visibility from KPNO), low IRAS 100 micron cirrus emission , and the absence of many bright stars or nearby rich clusters. Click here to see an ascii table of the 256 J2000 Survey Grid Coordinates . To access our I-band images: Click Here! To access the cluster catalog: Click Here! ... 2-pt Corr. ... 2002 - 2005 Marc Postman Last Updated: 28 April 2005 . ...

... All previous such superstars have been found along with many companion stars in the centres of crowded star clusters. The star is known as VFTS 682 from the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey catalogue of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) located at Paranal in Chile by means of the attached FLAMES instrument. ... Although VFTS 682 seems to be alone now it is not very far away from a very rich star cluster known as RMC 136 that contains several similar superstars. ...

... Observing . ... Subscriber Extras . ... Web Extras . ... Globular cluster NGC 2808, elliptical galaxy NGC 2986, and the Sextans Dwarf . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... Web Extra: Astronomers animate one of the largest galaxy clusters ever observed . ... At the center of the Phoenix Cluster, a large elliptical galaxy lurks where the hot gas is ejected, giving off unprecedented levels of X-rays, which have been observed by the orbiting Chandra X-ray telescope. ...