Desde um caminho de terra batida até ao observatório líder mundial



O ESO faz 50 anos este ano e, para celebrar esta importante data, mostramos momentos do nosso passado. Uma vez por mês, durante todo o ano de 2012, publicamos uma Fotografia da Semana especial de comparação "Antes e Agora", onde mostramos como é que as coisas mudaram ao longo das décadas nos observatórios de La Silla e Paranal, nos gabinetes do ESO em Santiago do Chile e na Sede do ESO em Garching bei München, Alemanha.
Este par de fotografias mostra uma panorâmica da entrada do Observatório do Paranal, no norte do Chile, na direção do cume do Cerro Paranal, tal qual como o local era em 1987 e como é hoje em dia.
A região do Cerro Paranal foi pela primeira vez inspeccionada, como possível local para o futuro Very Large Telescope (VLT), em 1983 por uma equipe que incluía o então Diretor Geral do ESO, Lodewijk Woltjer (ver a revista The Messenger, nº 64, pág. 5-8 para mais informações). Em 1987 foi construída uma estrada de terra batida até ao cume e estabelecida nesse sítio uma estação permanente para monitorizar as condições do local. A fotografia histórica mostra uma imagem dessa época.
Os resultados dos testes do local foram extremamente bons - as condições eram claramente melhores do que as do Observatório de La Silla do ESO, como também as de outros locais que estavam sendo estudados para o mesmo efeito. Estes resultados levaram assim à decisão de colocar o VLT no Paranal, decisão essa que foi tomada pelo Conselho do ESO em dezembro de 1990 (ver eso9015).
Muito mudou no Paranal nos 25 anos desde que a fotografia histórica foi tirada. O cume da montanha foi nivelado e construiu-se uma estrada de boa qualidade, e claro, os telescópios do observatório foram também construídos. O observatório completo e totalmente operacional pode ser visto na fotografia atual. No cume encontram-se os quatro telescópios de 8.2 metros que compõem o VLT, assim como os quatro telescópios auxiliares menores, de 1.8 metros, utilizados para a interferometria. Encontra-se também instalado neste local o VLT Survey Telescope de 2.6 metros. Na região do portão foram erguidos muitos edifícios que formam o campo base do observatório. Para uma vista na direção oposta, do cimo da montanha para baixo, para o campo base, veja a Fotografia da Semana potw1230.
Links
- Imagem histórica
- Imagem atual
- Comparação lado a lado das imagens histórica e atual
Créditos
ESO
Sobre a comparação de imagens
Id: | potw1232a |
Data de divulgação: | 6 de Agosto de 2012 às 10:00 |
Imagens
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