Paranal Observatory
Part of EarthSolar SystemMilky Way
ESO's observatory on a mountain top in Chile's Atacama Desert, home of the Very Large Telescope.
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Paranal panorama
A 360° webcam view of the Very Large Telescope platform on Cerro Paranal, by day and by night.
Image: ESO · CC BY 4.0 (opens in a new tab)
The dry, dark sky above Paranal is among the best on Earth for astronomy. The four 8.2-metre telescopes of the Very Large Telescope can work alone or together as one giant instrument.
Key facts
- Type
- Ground-based observatory
- Location
- Cerro Paranal, Atacama Desert, Chile
- Altitude
- 2,635 m
- Operator
- ESO