Latest Very Large Telescope Stories
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has tested out its latest instrument called KMOS on its Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. The instrument, K-band Multi-Object Spectrograph (KMOS), is capable of observing 24 objects at the same time in infrared light, and study the structure simultaneously within each one. ESO said KMOS will help to provide crucial data to help understand how galaxies grew and...
[ Video 1 ] | [ Video 2 ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online A new image released by the European Space Observatory (ESO) shows off a spectacular view of the star-forming Carina Nebula, and is being released right in time for an inauguration. Astronomers captured the Carina Nebula using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) Survey Telescope at ESO's Paranal Observatory. The image was released on the occasion of the inauguration of the telescope in Naples on Thursday. The...
[ Watch the Video: The Green Bean Galaxy J2240 ] Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Astronomers using the European Space Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) have identified a new galaxy class. The "green bean galaxies" have an unusual appearance, glowing in intense light emitted from the surroundings of monster black holes. The galaxies are amongst the rarest objects in the universe, and in the case of green bean galaxies, the entire galaxy glows, not just...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Some 24 robotic arms attached to a new high tech instrument have been transported from Edinburgh, Scotland to a Chilean mountaintop in the hope that some of the key questions surrounding the beginnings of the Universe will be answered in greater detail than ever before. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has provisionally accepted KMOS after testing was completed at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) in Edinburgh....
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is celebrating 50 years since it was founded on October 5, 1962. The signing of the ESO Convention and the founding of ESO was the culmination of the dream of leading astronomers from five European countries, including Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. These astronomers decided to join forces with the goal of building a large telescope that would give them great access to...
On 5 October 2012, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will broadcast A Day in the Life of ESO, a free, live event on the web, as part of its 50th Anniversary celebrations. There will be live observations from ESO’s flagship observatory, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), on Cerro Paranal in Chile’s Atacama Desert, as well as fascinating talks from astronomers at ESO’s Headquarters in Germany. Members of the public are invited to ask questions in advance of the event, or during the...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online Listen to the podcast “How Planets Form” with redOrbit's Dr. John Millis and planet-hunting expert Dr. Eric Mamajek of the University of Rochester. The center of the Milky Way seems like the last place to form a new planet, inhospitable and violent even. Stars crowd each other, whizzing through space like cars on a rush hour freeway while supernova explosions blast out shock waves and bathe the region in intense radiation. The...
April Flowers for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online A team of astrophysicists from the Center for Astrophysics at the University of Notre Dame are exploring a discrepancy between the amount of lithium predicted by the standard models of elemental production during the Big Bang and the amount of lithium observed in the gas of the Small Magellanic Cloud. The Small Magellanic Cloud is a dwarf galaxy with a diameter of about 7,000 light-years. It contains several hundred million...
[ Watch the Video: Moon Setting over ESO’s Paranal Observatory ] April Flowers for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is having its 50th anniversary on October 5, 2012, and ESO is hosting two competitions to celebrate the event. ESO builds and operates some of the most advanced telescopes on Earth, including the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. These huge machines have made many fascinating discoveries about...
Lee Rannals for redOrbit.com - Your Universe Online The brightest stars in the universe apparently do not like to live alone, according to a new study using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT). Nearly three-quarters of the brightest, high mass stars are found to have a close companion star, which is far more than previous thought. Most of these pairs of stars are also experiencing disruptive interactions, like mass transfer from one star to the other. Another third of them are expected...
Latest Very Large Telescope Reference Libraries
Very Large Telescope -- The Very Large Telescope (VLT) consist of four optical telescopes that have 8.4 meter aperture. The VLT is a project of the European Southern Observatory organization. It is located at the Paranal Observatory on Cerro Paranal, a 2,635-m high mountain in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. The VLT consists of a cluster four of large telescopes, and an interferometer (VLTI) which will be used to resolve fine features. The telescopes have been named after the...
Adaptive Optics -- Adaptive optics is a technology to improve the performance of Earth-based telescopes, reversing the effect of atmospheric distortions. When light from a star or another astronomical object enters the Earth's atmosphere, the different temperature layers and different wind speeds distort and move the image in various ways (see seeing for a proper discussion). The net result is that an 8 meters or 10 meters telescope (like the VLT or Keck), while theoretically capable...
Overwhelmingly Large Telescope -- The European Southern Observatory has undertaken a concept study for the next generation of ground-based Extremely Large Telescopes (ELTs). Dubbed OWL, ESO's concept is conceived as a 100 m. diameter optical and near-infrared, adaptive telescope. With milliarc second resolution and limiting magnitude V~38, OWL will be capable of imaging solar system objects at resolutions comparable to that offered by space probes, over much longer time scales. It...
European Southern Observatory -- ESO, the European Southern Observatory, was created in 1962 to: "establish and operate an astronomical observatory in the southern hemisphere, equipped with powerful instruments, with the aim of furthering and organising collaboration in astronomy". ESO is supported by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Other countries have expressed interest to become a member as well. ESO...
