A beautiful atmospheric phenomenon dropped over the Very Large Telescope (VLT) last week, giving the #MeetESO participants a unique opportunity to admire the night sky.
The belt of Venus occurs immediately after sunset in a cloudless sky, and depending on atmospheric conditions it may have the appearance of reddish glowing stripes opposite the direction of sunset. The glow itself is caused by the dispersion of sunlight reflected from dust particles suspended high in the atmosphere. In order to observe it, you just need to turn your back on the sunset and look at the twilight sky.
The domes of the four main telescopes and the four auxiliary telescopes of the Very Large Telescopes begin to observe on May 9 during the event #MeetESO.
On May 9, after the transit of Mercury blinded the world, the Discovery News team was present at the #MeetESO event on the top of Cerro Paranale, a 2664-meter mountain in the Atacama desert in northern Chile. As the sun sets over the desert, the Venus Belt grows above the VLT telescopes. VLT is one of the most sophisticated and advanced optical telescopes on the planet. It consists of 4 primary telescopes and 4 auxiliary 1, 8-meter telescopes. The entire system can operate as individual telescopes or in a VLT interferometer group (VLTI). The interferometer uses several telescopes to combine their power to simulate a larger telescope.
One of the auxiliary VLTs telescopes opens the dome after sunset.
One of the auxiliary VLTs telescopes opens the dome after sunset.
As a bonus, one of the main telescopes is now equipped with quad-adaptive optics to compensate for atmospheric turbulence.
