Star-gazing

Antu is one of the four giant telescopes that make up the Very Large Telescope. swissinfo.ch

The Very Large Telescope took this image of galaxies in the Virgo constellation. swissinfo.ch

The Paranal Observatory is located at 2,637 metres above sea level. swissinfo.ch

The Very Large Telescope in action. (ESO) ESO

The Very Large Telescope captured this impressive image of clouds around the NGC 1929 stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud – a satellite galaxy to the Milky Way. ESO

The astronomy complex has a residence for the staff who work in shifts. swissinfo.ch

The astronomers work the telescopes from a control room. Mariel Jara/swissinfo.ch

A new working day begins for the astronomers at Paranal Observatory. Gordon Gillet/ESO

The night sky over Paranal. ESO

Inside the modern residence there are tropical plants and a humidity of 35 per cent, compared with five per cent humidity outside in the desert. ESO

Night time at Paranal. Yuri Beletsky/ESO

In the centre of the image you can see Venus, the closest planet to Earth; on the right Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. Yuri Beletsky/ESO

The European Southern Observatory’s Paranal centre.

This content was published on September 16, 2011 - 16:27

Created in 1999 the Paranal observatory is located at 2,637 metres above sea level, 1,500km northeast of the capital Santiago.

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.