Rolling red hills stretch out below the exceptionally clear blue sky that is typical of ESO's Paranal Observatory.

Picture Credit: Credit: ESO/José Francisco Salgado — josefrancisco.org

The Paranal Observatory telescopes and instruments. Instruments listed in blue are at the Cassegrain focii of the telescopes. Instruments listed in italics are not yet in operation. The year in brackets indicates the start of operations.

Picture Credit: ESO

Inside the UT4 of the Very Large Telescope, part of the Adaptive Optics Facility, the Four-Laser Guide Star Facility, points to the skies during the first observations using the MUSE instrument. The sharpness and dynamic range of images using the AOF equipped MUSE instrument will dramatically improve future observations.

Picture Credit: Roland Bacon/ESO

This broad image of the Carina Nebula, a region of massive star formation in the southern skies, was taken in infrared light using the HAWK-I camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Many previously hidden features, scattered across a spectacular celestial landscape of gas, dust and young stars, have emerged.

Picture Credit: ESO/T. Preibisch

This artist’s rendering shows a night view of the Extremely Large Telescope in operation on Cerro Armazones in northern Chile. The telescope is shown using lasers to create artificial stars high in the atmosphere. The first stone ceremony for the telescope was attended by the President of Chile, Michelle Bachelet Jeria, on 26 May 2017.

Picture Credit: ESO/L. Calçada