1 00:00:02,860 --> 00:00:06,089 This is the story of an ePic Adventure a 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:14,030 story of Cosmic curiosity courage and perseverance 3 00:00:17,650 --> 00:00:21,869 the story of how Europe went self to explore the stars 4 00:00:26,259 --> 00:00:28,349 Eso is Europe's portal to the stars 5 00:00:29,920 --> 00:00:35,610 here astronomers from 15 countries joined forces to unravel the secrets of the universe 6 00:00:36,610 --> 00:00:40,229 How by building the largest telescopes on Earth? 7 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,280 designing sensitive cameras and instruments 8 00:00:44,620 --> 00:00:46,620 scrutinizing the heavens 9 00:00:48,700 --> 00:00:51,460 Their work has looked at objects near and far 10 00:00:51,729 --> 00:00:57,569 from Comets traversing the solar system to Distant galaxies at the very Edge of space and time 11 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:02,640 Giving us fresh insights and an unprecedented view of the universe 12 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:39,040 a universe of deep mysteries and hidden secrets and staggering beauty 13 00:01:42,740 --> 00:01:49,420 But the exploration of the Southern sky still took lots of courage passion and perseverance 14 00:01:54,060 --> 00:02:00,199 The telescope is of course the central tool that allows us to unravel the secrets of the universe 15 00:02:02,460 --> 00:02:06,260 telescopes collect far more light than the unaided human eye 16 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:11,120 So they reveal fainter stars and let us pay a deeper into space like 17 00:02:13,140 --> 00:02:16,700 magnifying glasses they also show finer detail and 18 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:26,280 When equipped with sensitive cameras and spectrographs, they provide us with a wealth of information about planets stars and galaxies. 19 00:02:29,640 --> 00:02:33,280 The VLT is Eso's Flagship facility 20 00:02:33,700 --> 00:02:39,480 for identical telescopes joining forces on top of cerro paranal in the North of Chile 21 00:02:40,219 --> 00:02:45,959 Built in the late 1990s they provided astronomers with the best available technologies 22 00:02:56,670 --> 00:02:59,600 the VLT consists of four telescopes 23 00:03:00,630 --> 00:03:05,809 Together they can act as a virtual telescope measuring a hundred and thirty meters across 24 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:16,250 Light collected by the individual telescopes is channeled through tunnels and brought together in an underground laboratory 25 00:03:17,580 --> 00:03:23,240 Here the light waves are combined using laser metrology and Intricate Delay lines 26 00:03:27,810 --> 00:03:30,949 the net result is the light-Gathering power of 27 00:03:31,620 --> 00:03:33,620 48.2 Meter Mirrors and the 28 00:03:34,170 --> 00:03:39,260 eagle-eyed vision of an Imaginary telescope as large as 50 tennis courts 29 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:46,670 for auxiliary telescopes give the Network more flexibility 30 00:03:47,580 --> 00:03:54,469 They may appear tiny next to the four giants yet. They sport mirrors 1.8 Meters across 31 00:03:55,140 --> 00:03:59,390 That's bigger than the largest telescope in the world just a hundred years ago 32 00:04:02,850 --> 00:04:06,980 eso closely cooperates with industry in both Europe and chile 33 00:04:08,459 --> 00:04:13,339 Access roads had to be constructed mountaintops had to be leveled the 34 00:04:15,300 --> 00:04:21,169 The Italian industrial consortium AES built the main structure of the four vlt telescopes 35 00:04:23,730 --> 00:04:28,759 The German Glass company shot produced the delicate vlt mirrors 36 00:04:30,060 --> 00:04:36,560 At real skin France the mirrors were polished to a precision of a millionth of a millimeter 37 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:44,980 Meanwhile universities and research institutes across Europe developed sensitive cameras and spectrometers. 38 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:54,680 And throughout the world the European Southern Observatory contributes to exhibitions and science fairs 39 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:02,560 Countless ways to participate in the discovery of the cosmos 40 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,979 But in terms of Outreach nothing beats the universe itself 41 00:05:17,389 --> 00:05:25,198 Astronomy is a visual science images of Galaxies star clusters and Stellar nurseries fire our imagination 42 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:42,249 Armor is a joint project of Europe North America and East Asia 43 00:05:43,280 --> 00:05:45,730 It operates like a giant zoom lens 44 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:48,700 Close together the 66 antennas 45 00:05:49,340 --> 00:05:51,340 provide a wide Angle view 46 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:57,000 But spread apart they reveal much finer detail over a smaller area of sky 47 00:05:58,780 --> 00:06:00,560 At 5000 Metres Above Sea level 48 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:05,420 the Array provides an unprecedented view of the microwave universe 49 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,320 But what would it reveal? 50 00:06:14,470 --> 00:06:19,890 the birth of the very first galaxies in the universe in the wake of the big bang 51 00:06:22,680 --> 00:06:29,000 Cold and dusty clouds of molecular gas the stellar nurseries where new suns and planets are born 52 00:06:33,380 --> 00:06:35,380 and the chemistry of the cosmos 53 00:06:39,300 --> 00:06:43,640 Alma will track down organic Molecules the building blocks of life 54 00:06:50,820 --> 00:06:52,820 While Alma is nearly completed 55 00:06:53,300 --> 00:06:56,380 Eso's next dream machine is still a Few years away 56 00:06:57,500 --> 00:06:59,420 See that Mountain over there 57 00:06:59,430 --> 00:07:01,430 Thats Sarah Amazonas 58 00:07:03,570 --> 00:07:09,679 Not far from paranal it will be home to the largest telescope in the history of mankind 59 00:07:10,980 --> 00:07:18,180 Meet the European extremely large telescope the world's biggest eye on the sky 60 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,340 Is there life Beyond Earth? What's the origin of the universe? 61 00:07:28,940 --> 00:07:36,840 Eso's new Monster Telescope will help in our quest to understand. We're not there yet, but it won't take long 62 00:07:38,030 --> 00:07:43,509 So what's next ? Well, no one knows, but eso is ready for the adventure