The VISTA telescope

The Paranal engineer Gerhard Hüdepohl checks the VISTA telescope. VISTA is the largest telescope in the world dedicated to surveying the sky and has a huge camera sensitive to near-infrared wavelengths. Its primary mirror is 4.1 metres in diameter and is the most highly curved of its size. The extremely high curvature reduces the focal length, making the structure of the telescope extremely compact. This design enables VISTA to map large areas of the sky quickly and deeply.