Activity at La Silla

This remarkable time-lapse video shows just how much activity there is in the sky above the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at its observatory in La Silla. And, indeed, on the ground. An astronomical observatory is a busy place. This telescope is being used in a ground-breaking project, called the Pale Red Dot campaign, which will give the public unprecedented access to the process of hunting for evidence of a planet in orbit around Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to Earth (apart from the Sun, of course!).

Pale Red Dot is an international search for an Earth-like exoplanet around the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri. It will use HARPS, attached to the ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory, as well as the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and the Burst Optical Observer and Transient Exploring System (BOOTES). The public will see how teams of astronomers with different specialities work together to collect, analyse and interpret data, which may or may not be able to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest neighbour. The outreach campaign consists of blog posts and social media updates on the Pale Red Dot Twitter account and using the hashtag #PaleRedDot. For more information visit the Pale Red Dot website: http://www.palereddot.org