A virtual 100-metre telescope

Light collected by three VLT Auxiliary Telescopes, and combined using the technique of interferometry, provides astronomers with vision as sharp as that from a giant telescope with a diameter equal to the largest separation between the telescopes used. To obtain the image of T Leporis using data from the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, astronomers used the four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes in different configurations to mimic a telescope almost 100 metres in diameter, as represented schematically on this artist’s impression of the Paranal platform.

Credit:

ESO

About the Image

Id:eso0906c
Type:Photographic
Release date:18 February 2009
Related releases:eso0906
Size:3000 x 1687 px

About the Object

Name:Very Large Telescope
Type:Unspecified : Technology : Observatory : Instrument
Category:Illustrations
Paranal

Image Formats

Large JPEG
1.3 MB
Screensize JPEG
187.3 KB

Wallpapers

1024x768
268.5 KB
1280x1024
414.8 KB
1600x1200
581.3 KB
1920x1200
695.8 KB
2048x1536
885.9 KB