The European Southern Observatory designs, builds & operates world-class observatories on the ground for the benefit of society.
#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science
| website | https://www.eso.org |
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| Chasing Starlight | https://www.youtube.com/@ESOChasingStarlight |
A concrete aperture!
This image was captured below one of the four Unit Telescopes that make up our Very Large Telescope (VLT), around the basis of the enclosure.
And while the circular openings helped to create this stunning composition, they are far more than aesthetic, as they also reduce thermal inertia and improve airflow around the domes.
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2618a/
📷 ESO/L. Sbordone
#astrodon #astronomy #astrophysics #space #science #BlackAndWhite #Chile
Over 70% complete, our ELT is glowing in the #sunset light of the Atacama Desert in #Chile, surrounded by massive cranes hard at work to get this telescope up and running.
With the first light planned for the end of the decade, the ELT and its groundbreaking 39-metre main mirror will take on some of the biggest challenges in #astronomy and, ultimately, help us understand our place in the #Universe.
Read more: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2617a/
📷 ESO/G. Vecchia
ALMA has mapped with unique detail how clouds in another galaxy break into smaller fragments out of which stars will form.
The way this happens seems similar to what we see in clouds in our own galaxy. Could this mechanism be universal?
More by INAF: http://www.inaf.it/en/inaf-news/alma-witnesses-star-birth-beyond-milky-way
📷 A. Traficante et al.
With more to come soon, including a chiller system and a battery energy storage system 🔋
#EarthDay2026 3/3
We have already installed:
⚡ A photovoltaic generator for the cooling and heating demands of the ESO 3.6-metre telescope and the accommodation area
⚡ Heat pumps for residential heating and hot water
#EarthDay2026 2/3
Our facilities at La Silla Observatory are on the road to being 100% run on renewables by the end of this year!
#EarthDay2026 1/3
This isn't a scene from Star Wars.
What you're looking at is the Tarantula Nebula, and those beams come from the lasers installed on the telescopes of our Very Large Telescope Interferometer in #Chile. They create artificial stars 90 km above the ground to correct atmospheric turbulence, allowing the VLTI to observe faint targets.
But why are four telescopes observing the same target? Find out: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2616a/
📷 A. Berdeu/ESO
And here is the location of the image on the sky, between the constellations of Ophiuchus and Scorpius:
Sending Orion around the Moon and bringing it back home was the task of ESA's European Service Module, which provided power, propulsion and life support for the crew.
Welcome back to Earth, Reid, Victor, Christina & Jeremy! 🧑🚀
📷
NTT image credit: ESO/I. Saviane
Orbit simulation: Kel Elkins (Science and Technology Corporation), Ernie Wright (USRA)
We spotted some of that #Moon joy!
In the early morning of 9 April, ESO's New Technology Telescope turned its gaze to the sky above La Silla in #Chile and caught something special.
Not a distant galaxy, nor a star cluster, but a streak of light with a very special story: NASA's Artemis II Orion spacecraft with a crew of four, returning from an epic journey around the Moon.
📷 ESO/I. Saviane
