On the VLT platform

Three of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) on the platform of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT), atop the 2600 metre high peak Cerro Paranal, in northern Chile. The VLT consists of four 8.2-metre UTs and four 1.8-metre movable Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs), one of them visible on the left. While the UTs can observe either individually or in a combined interferometric mode, the ATs are entirely dedicated to interferometry. By using this technique, astronomers can see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes. The configuration of the ATs can be changed across the platform by moving them to 30 different observing positions. The UTs were also given names from the Mapuche language: from the front to the back, UT3 is Melipal (the Southern Cross), UT2 is Kueyen (the Moon) and UT1 is Antu (the Sun).