Laser to the stars

Unit Telescope 4 (Yepun) of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) sends laser light up to the stars in this fulldome footage from the Paranal Observatory. The lasers create an artificial guide star as part of the Adaptive Optics (AO) system, state-of-the-art technology that corrects the blurring effects of the Earth's atmosphere. AO is among the technologies that make the VLT the most advanced optical instrument in the world, allowing it to make the very most of the exceptional viewing conditions at Paranal, which enjoys about 300 clear nights per year.