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Credit & Copyright: European Southern Observatory (ESO)
Explanation:
From left to right are the enclosures of
Yepun (ye-poon; Sirius),
Antu (an-too; Sun),
Kueyen (qua-yen; Moon),
and Melipal (me-li-pal; Southern Cross),
pictured here as
night falls at Paranal Observatory
in northern Chile.
These are the four 8.2 meter wide telescope units of the
European Southern Observatory's
Very Large Telescope (VLT).
ESO astronomers and engineers plan to
combine the light of
the individual units, achieving an equivalent
aperture
of 16.4 meters which will,
for a while,
constitue
the biggest telescope on
planet Earth.
Of course,
the individual telescopes also function independently.
Antu, Kueyen, and Melipal have already achieved first light with
Yepun expected to operate in 2001.
The telescope
names
come from the Mapuche
language.
They were unanimously chosen based on
the winning "name-the-telescopes" essay by 17-year old
Jorssy Albanez Castilla from
Chuquicamata near the city of Calama.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon - Sun - VLT - Sirius - Southern Cross - ESO - telescope
Publications with words: Moon - Sun - VLT - Sirius - Southern Cross - ESO - telescope
See also:
- APOD: 2024 September 2 Á A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
- APOD: 2024 September 1 Á The Moon Dressed Like Saturn
- APOD: 2024 August 27 Á Moon Eclipses Saturn
- APOD: 2024 August 18 Á A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 28 Á Sun Dance
- APOD: 2024 July 24 Á Exaggerated Moon