NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

The VLT Interferometric Array

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) Interferometric Array [ http://www.eso.org/…] will be able to act as individual telescopes or as one huge telescope. Of the four planned VLTs in Chile [ http://www.eso.org/…], two have now reached completion. The first VLT [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] to operate is visible on the left of the above photograph [ http://www.eso.org/…] and was recently given the name Antu [ http://www.eso.org/…]. To its right is Kueyen, which achieved its first observations just last week. Each VLT telescope [ http://www.eso.org/…] by itself is now one of the largest optical telescopes [ http://www.seds.org…] in the world, joining the new cadre of large telescopes with mirrors greater than 8-meters in diameter. After Melipal and Yepun are completed in the next few years, the four VLTs [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] will be able to combine their light [ http://www.eso.org/…] to achieve the sensitivity of a single 16-meter telescope, and the resolution of a single 200-meter telescope. Over the next few years, the VLT telescopes will explore the universe [ http://www.eso.org/…] in unprecedented detail, searching for everything from ordinary planets orbiting nearby stars [ http://cannon.sfsu.…] to extraordinary explosions in the distant universe [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].

European Southern Observatory [ http://www.eso.org/]

telescope

VLT

interferometry

Chile

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

ESO

VLT

Very Large Telescope

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap990309