Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Guest Speaker: Dr. Massimo Tarenghi, European Southern Observatory (ESO), builder of the VLT
Summary: Learn about how Dr. Tarenghi put on hold his career as an astronomer in order to build the amazing VLT. Dr. Tarenghi describes how Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the universe was expanding led to the race to build the biggest telescope. He describes how ESO selected the Atacama Desert in Chile to build the VLT since it is the driest desert in the world, it has high mountains, and no clouds. To build the Observatory, they had to slice off the top of the Paranal mountain on which the VLT was built. The VLT uses an Active Optics System to maintain perfect seeing conditions, at all times. Massimo then describes how, through technology, larger observatories are being built that will compete with the resolving power of space telescopes.
URLs
NTT eso.org/public/usa/teles-instr/lasilla/ntt
Very Large Telescope eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt
Paranal Observatory eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory
E-ELT elt.eso.org
Vera Rubin Observatory lsst.org
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
4:47 History of telescopes
16:21 Why Chile?
20:01 ESO in Chile
24:28 Adaptive optic systems
26:22 A new type of dome
27:44 NTT First light
29:49 Selecting the best location
33:17 Adding infrastructure
38:06 4 main telescopes
40:04 Casting, polishing, and transporting mirrors
45:49 Tour of instrumentation
50:34 Why build ground-based telescopes?
52:49 The beauty of the night sky from Paranal
54:53 Artificial star focusing
56:53 Paranal residences
59:08 The need to build high
1:04:34 Comparison of mirror sizes
1:09:07 LSST Vara Rubin
1:11:12 GMT
1:13:02 E-ELT
1:17:13 Wrap-up
#iTelescope
#astrophotography
#deepsky
#astro
#astronomy
Guest Speaker: Dr. Massimo Tarenghi, European Southern Observatory (ESO), builder of the VLT
Summary: Learn about how Dr. Tarenghi put on hold his career as an astronomer in order to build the amazing VLT. Dr. Tarenghi describes how Edwin Hubble’s discovery that the universe was expanding led to the race to build the biggest telescope. He describes how ESO selected the Atacama Desert in Chile to build the VLT since it is the driest desert in the world, it has high mountains, and no clouds. To build the Observatory, they had to slice off the top of the Paranal mountain on which the VLT was built. The VLT uses an Active Optics System to maintain perfect seeing conditions, at all times. Massimo then describes how, through technology, larger observatories are being built that will compete with the resolving power of space telescopes.
URLs
NTT eso.org/public/usa/teles-instr/lasilla/ntt
Very Large Telescope eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt
Paranal Observatory eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory
E-ELT elt.eso.org
Vera Rubin Observatory lsst.org
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
4:47 History of telescopes
16:21 Why Chile?
20:01 ESO in Chile
24:28 Adaptive optic systems
26:22 A new type of dome
27:44 NTT First light
29:49 Selecting the best location
33:17 Adding infrastructure
38:06 4 main telescopes
40:04 Casting, polishing, and transporting mirrors
45:49 Tour of instrumentation
50:34 Why build ground-based telescopes?
52:49 The beauty of the night sky from Paranal
54:53 Artificial star focusing
56:53 Paranal residences
59:08 The need to build high
1:04:34 Comparison of mirror sizes
1:09:07 LSST Vara Rubin
1:11:12 GMT
1:13:02 E-ELT
1:17:13 Wrap-up
#iTelescope
#astrophotography
#deepsky
#astro
#astronomy
