Small but powerful

The Paranal observatory does not consist only out of the four large units of the Very Large Telescope - two of which are visible in the background - but it also hosts four movable 1.8 metre auxiliary telescopes, like the one in the foreground.

This small telescopes are part of the VLTI. The light they collect is fed into the same common focal point via a complex system of reflecting mirrors mounted in an underground system of tunnels. Therefore they allow observations which get the resolution of a 100 metre telescope.