ESO Council visits VLT construction

This photo shows members of the ESO Council in front of the mechanical structure of one of the ESO VLT 8.2-metre Unit telescopes, now being assembled at the Ansaldo factory in Milan (Italy). It was obtained on November 28, 1995.

The structure stands about 24 metres tall and protrudes another 5 metres below the floor. This type of telescope mounting is known as `alt-az' (altitude-azimuth); it consists of a (blue-painted) platform which rotates on circular tracks around a vertical axis and a (silver-coloured) open structure (the `telescope tube'), that tilts around a horizontal axis. When the photo was taken, the cell that supports the main telescope mirror of 8.2-metre diameter had not yet been installed at the bottom end of that structure. The total weight of the moving parts is about 430 tonnes.

The ESO Council delegates (from left to right): Philippe Brossier (France), Bernard Fort (France), Bengt Gustafsson (Sweden), Johannes Andersen (kneeling; Chairman STC, Denmark), Joachim Krautter (Chairman OPC, Germany), Edwin L. van Dessel (Belgium), Stephane Berthet (Switzerland), Jean-Pierre Swings (Vice-President, Belgium), Peter Creola (President, Switzerland), Emil A.A.M. Broesterhuizen (The Netherlands), Riccardo Giacconi (ESO Director General), Dietmar Reimers (Germany), Guglielmo Castro (Italy), Poul E. Nissen (Denmark), Gerhard Bachmann (ESO Head of Administration), Gustav Tammann (Switzerland), Arno Freytag (Germany), Franco Pacini (Italy) and Francesco Bello (Observer, Portugal).