Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory located on Cerro Paranal at 2,635 m (8,645 ft) altitude, 120 km (70 mi) south of Antofagasta, Chile, and operated by the European Southern Observatory. The Very Large Telescope (VLT), the largest telescope on Paranal, is composed of four separate 8.2 m (320 in) telescopes. In addition, the four main telescopes can combine their light to make a fifth instrument, the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). Four auxiliary telescopes of 1.8 m (71 in) each are also part of the VLTI to make it available when the main telescopes are being used for other projects.
The site also houses the 2.6 m (100 in) VLT Survey Telescope and 4.0 m (160 in) VISTA survey telescope with wider fields of view for surveying large areas of sky uniformly.
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“Where there is an observatory and a telescope, we expect that any eyes will see new worlds at once.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)