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This is one of the most spectacular sunsets I ever saw while working at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile. The Atacama Desert is extremely dry, but clouds do show up sometimes. That day there were several dark clouds releasing very light rain that vaporised before reaching the ground. These wispy veils (called "virga") were lit by the golden sunset light, creating a lovely contrast with the blue sky above. 17 comments
One cool thing about these Auxiliary Telescopes is that we can move them along rails! By changing the separation and orientation of these telescopes we can probe different levels of detail in the astronomical objects we study. 🎥 ESO We have four other larger telescopes called Unit Telescopes, each one with an 8.2 m mirror. These normally work as standalone telescopes, each one pointing at a different target. But we can also link them with interferometry. If you want to learn more about this technique, check out this explainer that we prepared! https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/technology/interferometry/ @astro_jcm@mastodon.online the sky is amazing and the combination with those buildings make it even better! 😍  @astro_jcm this is a wonderful photo, but I also want you to know I misread Paranal as Paranormal, and that makes the clouds look very different  @astro_jcm That is beautiful but if you are into sunsets, challenge accepted! |
Gregory's Server
The telescopes you see here are 3 out of our 4 Auxiliary Telescopes. Each one has a 1.8 m mirror. These telescopes work together using a technique called interferometry: by combining their light we can achieve the resolution of a "virtual" telescope as large as the separation between the individual telescopes.