Video News Release 29: VISTA: A Pioneering New Survey Telescope Starts Work (eso0949b)

VISTA (the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy) is a new telescope that has just started work at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and has made its first release of pictures. VISTA is a survey telescope working at infrared wavelengths and is the world’s largest survey telescope. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors will reveal a completely new view of the southern sky. Spectacular pictures of the Flame Nebula, the centre of the Milky Way and the Fornax Galaxy Cluster show that it is working very well.

Credit: ESO. Acknowledgments: J. Emerson/VISTA/UK ATC. Editing: Herbert Zodet. Written by: Richard Hook and Adam Hadhazy. Narration: Gaitee Hussain. Music: John Dyson from the CD movetwo. Footage and photos: ESO. Directed by: Herbert Zodet. Executive producer: Lars Lindberg Christensen.

This Video News Release is targeted especially at broadcasters for further editing. In order to keep the audio tracks editable, different sound information has been recorded on two separate tracks at optimal volumes as is common standard in professional post production. This video is not meant for on screen viewing — on ESOcasts are better suited for that.