Facility Information
IDENTIFIER urn:nasa:pds:context:facility:observatory.eso-paranal::1.1
NAME European Southern Observatory (Paranal) Very Large Telescope
TYPE Observatory
DESCRIPTION The Paranal Observatory, home of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), is operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO), and is located in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile, on the summit of Cerro Paranal. The observatory consists of the Very Large Telescope (VLT), which is comprised of four 8.2-m telescopes that operate independently or together as an interferometer (VLTI) in combination with four auxiliary 1.8-m telescopes. The VLT operates in the visible and infrared, with adaptive optics on each of the 8.2-m unit telescopes. Although the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes can be combined in the VLTI, they are mostly used for individual observations and are only available for interferometric observations for a limited number of nights every year. But four smaller, dedicated 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) are available to allow the VLTI to operate every night. For more information, see https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/
ADDRESS Summit of Cerro Paranal, Chile, 130 km south of Antofagasto, Chile
COUNTRY Chile
INVESTIGATION(S) Observing Campaign for Support Monitoring of Jupiter
TELESCOPE(S) Very Large Telescope (VLT) Unit Telescope 4 (UT4) Yepun, 8.2-m Telescope