This is the story of an ePic Adventure a
story of Cosmic curiosity courage and perseverance
the story of how Europe went self to explore the stars
Eso is Europe's portal to the stars
here astronomers from 15 countries joined forces to unravel the secrets of the universe
How by building the largest telescopes on Earth?
designing sensitive cameras and instruments
scrutinizing the heavens
Their work has looked at objects near and far
from Comets traversing the solar system to Distant galaxies at the very Edge of space and time
Giving us fresh insights and an unprecedented view of the universe
a universe of deep mysteries and hidden secrets and staggering beauty
But the exploration of the Southern sky still took lots of courage passion and perseverance
The telescope is of course the central tool that allows us to unravel the secrets of the universe
telescopes collect far more light than the unaided human eye
So they reveal fainter stars and let us pay a deeper into space like
magnifying glasses they also show finer detail and
When equipped with sensitive cameras and spectrographs, they provide us with a wealth of information about planets stars and galaxies.
The VLT is Eso's Flagship facility
for identical telescopes joining forces on top of cerro paranal in the North of Chile
Built in the late 1990s they provided astronomers with the best available technologies
the VLT consists of four telescopes
Together they can act as a virtual telescope measuring a hundred and thirty meters across
Light collected by the individual telescopes is channeled through tunnels and brought together in an underground laboratory
Here the light waves are combined using laser metrology and Intricate Delay lines
the net result is the light-Gathering power of
48.2 Meter Mirrors and the
eagle-eyed vision of an Imaginary telescope as large as 50 tennis courts
for auxiliary telescopes give the Network more flexibility
They may appear tiny next to the four giants yet. They sport mirrors 1.8 Meters across
That's bigger than the largest telescope in the world just a hundred years ago
eso closely cooperates with industry in both Europe and chile
Access roads had to be constructed mountaintops had to be leveled the
The Italian industrial consortium AES built the main structure of the four vlt telescopes
The German Glass company shot produced the delicate vlt mirrors
At real skin France the mirrors were polished to a precision of a millionth of a millimeter
Meanwhile universities and research institutes across Europe developed sensitive cameras and spectrometers.
And throughout the world the European Southern Observatory contributes to exhibitions and science fairs
Countless ways to participate in the discovery of the cosmos
But in terms of Outreach nothing beats the universe itself
Astronomy is a visual science images of Galaxies star clusters and Stellar nurseries fire our imagination
Armor is a joint project of Europe North America and East Asia
It operates like a giant zoom lens
Close together the 66 antennas
provide a wide Angle view
But spread apart they reveal much finer detail over a smaller area of sky
At 5000 Metres Above Sea level
the Array provides an unprecedented view of the microwave universe
But what would it reveal?
the birth of the very first galaxies in the universe in the wake of the big bang
Cold and dusty clouds of molecular gas the stellar nurseries where new suns and planets are born
and the chemistry of the cosmos
Alma will track down organic Molecules the building blocks of life
While Alma is nearly completed
Eso's next dream machine is still a Few years away
See that Mountain over there
Thats Sarah Amazonas
Not far from paranal it will be home to the largest telescope in the history of mankind
Meet the European extremely large telescope the world's biggest eye on the sky
Is there life Beyond Earth? What's the origin of the universe?
Eso's new Monster Telescope will help in our quest to understand. We're not there yet, but it won't take long
So what's next ? Well, no one knows, but eso is ready for the adventure