Hunting sunsets and exoplanets

For almost 50 years, the ESO 3.6m Telescope has been standing proud at the La Silla Observatory, 2400 metres above sea level. La Silla, on the outskirts of the Atacama Desert in Chile, is the first location where ESO started building telescopes, back in the 1960s. The ESO 3.6m Telescope, hosted in the large dome to the left, first saw light in 1976 and has been searching the skies ever since. During those years, it has looked over thousands of spectacular sunsets like the one in this Picture of the Week.

In 1999, this telescope got a full makeover to ensure it remained in good shape for cutting-edge research, with further upgrades done in the 2000s. And you better not underestimate this old machine, because today, it is home to the most successful finder of low-mass exoplanets on Earth! 

Throughout the years, the telescope has been home to different instruments, but only one of those remains today: the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, which it has housed since 2003. HARPS is — of course — a specialised exoplanet hunter. It made several notable discoveries, like the Earth-mass exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Ross 128 in 2017. Who knows how many more discoveries this amazing team will make?

Bonus question: which telescope was hosted on the dome that, in this image, is hiding the setting sun?