Aerial photo of Cerro Paranal

This aerial photo of the Paranal mountain, the designated site for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), was obtained on 22 March 1994.

Paranal is located in the driest part of the Chilean Atacama desert, approx. 130 km south of the city of
Antofagasta, and about 12 km from the Pacific Ocean. The altitude is 2650 metres. In this view towards the East, the high mountains of the Andean Cordillera are in the background.

The top of the mountain has been levelled to make place for the extensive VLT installations. The four
excavations for the buildings that will house the four 8.2 metre VLT unit telescopes are clearly seen. There are some dust clouds from the construction activity at the site.

There are several other peaks in this area which may possibly be used for astronomical installations. The one to the left on which some site testing equipment can be seen, is known as the "NTT Peak''.