MASCARA planet hunting system at ESO’s La Silla Observatory

The MASCARA (Multi-site All-Sky CAmeRA) station at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile achieved first light in July 2017. This new facility will seek out transiting exoplanets as they pass in front of their bright parent stars and create a catalogue of targets for future exoplanet characterisation observations.

This view shows the five cameras the form the MASCARA system. Together the five wide-angle lenses allow MASCARA to image almost the entire visible sky in one go.