A dwarf among giants

The Paranal Observatory is not only home to the gigantic telescopes of the VLT, but also to some small observational instruments like the Surface Layer SLODAR (SLOpe Detection And Ranging), which is visible on this image within its dome.

The 40-cm telescope is located in the Astronomical Site Monitor area in Paranal and operates fully robotic. The instrument was deployed at ESO’s Paranal Observatory for a statistical characterisation of the site in March 2011. The Milky Way is clearly visible across the image. The brighter region in the upper part is the Carina Nebula. The silhouette of the 8.2-metre Yepun telescope is seen on the lower right. Above this, is the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighbouring galaxy of the Milky Way.