2023-05-25 10:05:56
Announcement
May 25, 2023
ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), one of the world’s most advanced optical telescopes, celebrates its 25th anniversary today. Over the course of the past two and a half decades, from its home in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the VLT has had a profound impact on our understanding of the Universe, with several notable discoveries.
ESO’s VLT is Europe’s leading center for ground-based optical astronomy. It consists of four Unit Telescopes (UTs) with 8.2-meter diameter main mirrors and four 1.8-meter mobile auxiliary telescopes that are part of the VLT Interferometer. On May 25, 1998, the UT1 (Antu) telescope captured its first images, marking a new era in astronomy.
Since then, astronomers have published more than 10,000 scientific papers with information collected by the VLT telescopes, that is, an average of one peer-reviewed study per day. Among the investigations carried out with the help of the VLT are the study of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the determination of the accelerated expansion of the Universe, which have been awarded Nobel Prizes. Other key discoveries include capturing the first direct image of a planet outside our Solar System and characterizing the first visible counterpart to a gravitational wave source.
The VLT’s extraordinary contributions to science have been made possible by its suite of advanced instruments, including the Focal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS), which is one of the most versatile and sought-after instruments by the astronomical community, as it has been able to image relatively vast areas of the sky with a high degree of sensitivity. In fact, FORS has captured some of the most iconic images of the VLT. Another versatile instrument is the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE), a powerful spectrograph that allows astronomers to create 3D models of the Universe. The VLT is also home to the Xshooter instrument, which can be used to observe a wide range of astronomical objects, from the most diffuse to the brightest. GRAVITY, another of the VLT’s interferometer instruments, is particularly unique in that it combines the light from four telescopes and stabilizes it, allowing astronomers to capture minute details in very faint objects.
In addition to its multifaceted instruments, the VLT includes an advanced adaptive optics system to correct for blur caused by atmospheric turbulence. Its four-laser system installed in the Yepun Unit Telescope (UT4), which is used to excite sodium atoms in the atmosphere, is perhaps one of the most prominent features of the VLT Adaptive Optics Facility. The atoms excited by lasers emit light that is affected by the atmosphere in the same way as light from real stars. The emitted light is captured by the telescope and can be used with the adaptive optics system to measure the distortions caused by the atmosphere and later correct them. This advanced system, in conjunction with the excellent dark sky conditions of the Atacama Desert, ensures that the telescope can obtain extremely sharp images.
The VLT continues to be at the forefront of science and engineering, and is expected to continue to make key discoveries for years to come. A continuous improvement is the implementation of a laser guide star in each of the telescope units, from UT1 to UT3, as part of the GRAVITY instrument upgrades.
ESO will celebrate the VLT on its social media this week. Don’t miss the new ESO YouTube show, Chasing Starlightwhose first episode will highlight the main discoveries of the VLT.
links
Contacts
Barbara Ferreira
ESO Media Manager
Garching near Munich, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6670
Email: press@eso.org
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