European
Southern
Observatory

Top 100 afbeeldingen

De eerste opname van ons zwarte gat

1. De eerste opname van ons zwarte gat

Eerste foto van een zwart gat

2. Eerste foto van een zwart gat

De Very Large Telescope kiekt een stellaire kraamkamer en viert zijn vijftiende verjaardag

3. De Very Large Telescope kiekt een stellaire kraamkamer en viert zijn vijftiende verjaardag

Stellaire kraamkamer in volle bloei

4. Stellaire kraamkamer in volle bloei

Waarneming van de Helm-van-Thor-nevel vanwege ESO's 50-jarig jubileum

5. Waarneming van de Helm-van-Thor-nevel vanwege ESO's 50-jarig jubileum

VLT kijkt in de ogen van de Maagd

6. VLT kijkt in de ogen van de Maagd

A 340-million pixel starscape from Paranal

7. A 340-million pixel starscape from Paranal

The second of three images of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project is a new and wonderful 340-million-pixel vista of the central parts of our galactic home, a 34 by 20-degree wide image that provides us with a view as experienced by amateur astronomers around the world. Taken by Stéphane Guisard, an ESO engineer and world-renowned astrophotographer, from Cerro Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope, this second image directly benefits from the quality of Paranal’s sky, one of the best on the planet. The image shows the region spanning the sky from the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer) to Scorpius (the ...

8. De Helixnevel

Het centrum van de Melkweg

9. Het centrum van de Melkweg

The Horsehead Nebula*

10. The Horsehead Nebula*

A reproduction of a composite colour image of the Horsehead Nebula and its immediate surroundings. It is based on three exposures in the visual part of the spectrum with the FORS2 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m KUEYEN telescope, part of ESO's Very Large Telescope, at Paranal. It was produced from three images, obtained on February 1, 2000, with the FORS2 multi-mode instrument at the 8.2-m KUEYEN Unit Telescope and extracted from the VLT Science Archive Facility . The frames were obtained in the B-band (600 sec exposure; wavelength 429 nm; FWHM 88 nm; here rendered as blue), V-band (300 sec; ...

Een diepe blik in de Orionnevel met HAWK-I

11. Een diepe blik in de Orionnevel met HAWK-I

De Carinanevel, gefotografeerd door de VLT Survey Telescope

12. De Carinanevel, gefotografeerd door de VLT Survey Telescope

Een nadere blik op het vreemde sterrenstelsel Centaurus A

13. Een nadere blik op het vreemde sterrenstelsel Centaurus A

ESO's VLT onthult de verborgen geheimen van de Carinanevel

14. ESO's VLT onthult de verborgen geheimen van de Carinanevel

VST-opname van het stervormingsgebied Messier 17

15. VST-opname van het stervormingsgebied Messier 17

VST-opname van de reusachtige bolvormige sterrenhoop Omega Centauri

16. VST-opname van de reusachtige bolvormige sterrenhoop Omega Centauri

Messier 78: een reflectienevel in Orion

17. Messier 78: een reflectienevel in Orion

2M1207b - first image of an exoplanet

18. 2M1207b - first image of an exoplanet

This composite image shows an exoplanet (the red spot on the lower left), orbiting the brown dwarf 2M1207 (centre). 2M1207b is the first exoplanet directly imaged and the first discovered orbiting a brown dwarf (see the press release). It was imaged the first time by the VLT in 2004. Its planetary identity and characteristics were confirmed after one year of observations in 2005. 2M1207b is a Jupiter-like planet, 5 times more massive than Jupiter. It orbits the brown dwarf at a distance 55 times larger than the Earth to the Sun, nearly twice as far as Neptune is from the ...

Het verborgen vuur van de Vlamnevel

19. Het verborgen vuur van de Vlamnevel

The Milky Way panorama

20. The Milky Way panorama

This magnificent 360-degree panoramic image, covering the entire southern and northern celestial sphere, reveals the cosmic landscape that surrounds our tiny blue planet. This gorgeous starscape serves as the first of three extremely high-resolution images featured in the GigaGalaxy Zoom project, launched by ESO within the framework of the International Year of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009). The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, which we see edge-on from our perspective on Earth, cuts a luminous swath across the image. The projection used in GigaGalaxy Zoom place the viewer in front of our Galaxy with the Galactic Plane running horizontally through the ...

21. De Omeganevel

NGC 2264 and the Christmas Tree cluster*

22. NGC 2264 and the Christmas Tree cluster*

This colour image of the region known as NGC 2264 — an area of sky that includes the sparkling blue baubles of the Christmas Tree star cluster and the Cone Nebula — was created from data taken through four different filters (B, V, R and H-alpha) with the Wide Field Imager at ESO's La Silla Observatory, 2400 m high in the Atacama Desert of Chile in the foothills of the Andes. The image shows a region of space about 30 light-years across.
This image is available as a mounted image in the ESOshop.
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Spiral galaxy NGC 1232

23. Spiral galaxy NGC 1232

This spectacular image of the large spiral galaxy NGC 1232 was obtained on September 21, 1998, during a period of good observing conditions. It is based on three exposures in ultra-violet, blue and red light, respectively. The colours of the different regions are well visible : the central areas contain older stars of reddish colour, while the spiral arms are populated by young, blue stars and many star-forming regions. Note the distorted companion galaxy on the left side, shaped like the greek letter "theta".
NGC 1232 is located 20º south of the celestial equator, in the constellation Eridanus (The River). ...

De Orionnevel met sterrenhoop, gefotografeerd met de VLT Survey Telescope

24. De Orionnevel met sterrenhoop, gefotografeerd met de VLT Survey Telescope

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) by night, under the Magellanic Clouds

25. The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) by night, under the Magellanic Clouds

Antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two companion galaxies to our own Milky Way galaxy, can be seen as bright smudges in the night sky, in the centre of the photograph.

VISTA-gigapixelmozaïek van het hart van de Melkweg

26. VISTA-gigapixelmozaïek van het hart van de Melkweg

De zuidelijke Melkweg boven ALMA

27. De zuidelijke Melkweg boven ALMA

ALMA's world at night

28. ALMA's world at night

This panoramic view of the Chajnantor plateau, spanning about 180 degrees from north (on the left) to south (on the right) shows the antennas of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) ranged across the unearthly landscape. Some familiar celestial objects can be seen in the night sky behind them. These crystal-clear night skies explain why Chile is the home of not only ALMA, but also several other astronomical observatories. This image is just part of an even wider panorama of Chajnantor.
In the foreground, the 12-metre diameter ALMA antennas are in action, working as one giant telescope, during the observatory’s ...

The R Coronae Australis region imaged with the Wide Field Imager at La Silla*

29. The R Coronae Australis region imaged with the Wide Field Imager at La Silla*

The nearby star-forming region around the star R Coronae Australis imaged by the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. This picture, which covers a field of 33.7 x 31.9 arcminutes (about the diameter of the full Moon), is a combination of twelve CCD frames, 67 megapixels each, taken through B, V and R filters, with four exposures of five minutes each.
This image is available as a mounted image in the ESOshop.
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30. Centaurus A

Colour composite image of Centaurus A, revealing the lobes and jets emanating from the active galaxy’s central black hole. This is a composite of images obtained with three instruments, operating at very different wavelengths. The 870-micron submillimetre data, from LABOCA on APEX, are shown in orange. X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in blue. Visible light data from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2 m telescope located at La Silla, Chile, show the stars and the galaxy’s characteristic dust lane in close to "true colour".
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A pool of distant galaxies

31. A pool of distant galaxies

The Chandra Deep Field South, observed in the U-, B-, and R-bands with ESO''s VIMOS and WFI instruments. The U-band VIMOS observations were made over a period of 40 hours and constitute the deepest image ever taken from the ground in the U-band. The image covers a region of 14.1 x 21.6 arcminutes on the sky and shows galaxies that are 1 billion times fainter than can be seen by the unaided eye. The VIMOS R-band image was assembled by the ESO/GOODS team from archival data, while the WFI B-band image was produced by the GABODS team.
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Panorama van de omgeving van W22 en Eta Carinae in de Carinanevel

32. Panorama van de omgeving van W22 en Eta Carinae in de Carinanevel

De avond na een lange dag

33. De avond na een lange dag

Antennae Galaxies composite of ALMA and Hubble observations

34. Antennae Galaxies composite of ALMA and Hubble observations

The Antennae Galaxies (also known as NGC 4038 and 4039) are a pair of distorted colliding spiral galaxies about 70 million light-years away, in the constellation of Corvus (The Crow). This view combines ALMA observations, made in two different wavelength ranges during the observatory’s early testing phase, with visible-light observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
The Hubble image is the sharpest view of this object ever taken and serves as the ultimate benchmark in terms of resolution. ALMA observes at much longer wavelengths which makes it much harder to obtain comparably sharp images. However, when the full ALMA array ...

VISTA's infraroodopname van de Kattenpootnevel

35. VISTA's infraroodopname van de Kattenpootnevel

VISTA's infrared view of the Orion Nebula*

36. VISTA's infrared view of the Orion Nebula*

This wide-field view of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), lying about 1350 light-years from Earth, was taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The new telescope’s huge field of view allows the whole nebula and its surroundings to be imaged in a single picture and its infrared vision also means that it can peer deep into the normally hidden dusty regions and reveal the curious antics of the very active young stars buried there. This image was created from images taken through Z, J and Ks filters in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. ...

Portrait of a dramatic stellar crib*

37. Portrait of a dramatic stellar crib*

One square degree image of the Tarantula Nebula and its surroundings. The spidery nebula is seen in the upper-centre of the image. Slightly to the lower-right, a web of filaments harbours the famous supernova SN 1987A. Many other reddish nebulae are visible in the image, as well as a cluster of young stars on the left, known as NGC 2100. Technical information: the image is based on observations carried out by Joao Alves (Calar Alto, Spain), Benoit Vandame and Yuri Beletsky (ESO) with the Wide Field Imager (WFI) at the 2.2-m telescope on La Silla. These data consist of a ...

APEX at Chajnantor*

38. APEX at Chajnantor*

While ALMA is currently under construction, astronomers are already doing millimetre and submillimetre astronomy at Chajnantor, with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX). This is a new-technology 12-m telescope, based on an ALMA prototype antenna, and operating at the ALMA site. It has modified optics and an improved antenna surface accuracy, and is designed to take advantage of the excellent sky transparency working with wavelengths in the 0.2 to 1.4 mm range.
This image is available as a mounted image in the ESOshop

De maan en de boog van de Melkweg

39. De maan en de boog van de Melkweg

Het oppervlak van Betelgeuze voor en na zijn Grote Verduistering van 2019/2020

40. Het oppervlak van Betelgeuze voor en na zijn Grote Verduistering van 2019/2020

Early morning on Paranal*

41. Early morning on Paranal*

This amazing panorama shows the observing platform of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) on Cerro Paranal, in Chile. Taken in the early morning, with the Moon still high in the sky, the air of peace and tranquility is in stark contrast to the frantic activity at the observatory. The four giant 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of the VLT are all targeting specific celestial objects, helping astronomers in their daily quest to understand the mysteries of the Universe. A laser is fired from Unit Telescope 4, Yepun, to help the adaptive optics system of the telescope, and counteract the blurring effect of ...

De sterrenhoop NGC 3293

42. De sterrenhoop NGC 3293

Het mondstuk van de Pijpnevel

43. Het mondstuk van de Pijpnevel

Eclipsed moon, striking night sky

44. Eclipsed moon, striking night sky

A total eclipse of the Moon is an impressive spectacle. But it also provides another viewing opportunity: a dark, moonlight-free starry sky. At Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama Desert, one of the most remote places in the world, the distance from sources of light pollution makes the night sky all the more remarkable during a total lunar eclipse.
This panorama photo, taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky, shows the view of the starry sky from the site of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Cerro Paranal during the total lunar eclipse of 21 December 2010. The reddish disc ...

The VLT in action*

45. The VLT in action*

The ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) during observations. In this picture, taken from the VLT platform looking north-northwest at twilight, the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes (UTs) are visible. From left to right, Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun, the Mapuche names for the VLT's giant telescopes. In front of the UTs are the four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs), entirely dedicated to interferometry, a technique which allows astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes. The configuration of the ATs can be changed by moving them across the platform between 30 different observing positions. One of ...

Rare 360-degree panorama of the southern sky*

46. Rare 360-degree panorama of the southern sky*

The Milky Way arches across this rare 360-degree panorama of the night sky above the Paranal platform, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The image was made from 37 individual frames with a total exposure time of about 30 minutes, taken in the early morning hours. The Moon is just rising and the zodiacal light shines above it, while the Milky Way stretches across the sky opposite the observatory. The open telescope domes of the world’s most advanced ground-based astronomical observatory are all visible in the image: the four smaller 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes that can be used together in the ...

The Eagle Nebula

47. The Eagle Nebula

Three-colour composite mosaic image of the Eagle Nebula (Messier 16, or NGC 6611), based on images obtained with the Wide-Field Imager camera on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory. At the centre, the so-called “Pillars of Creation” can be seen. This wide-field image shows not only the central pillars, but also several others in the same star-forming region, as well as a huge number of stars in front of, in, or behind the Eagle Nebula. The cluster of bright stars to the upper right is NGC 6611, home to the massive and hot stars that illuminate the ...

The Tinker Bell triplet

48. The Tinker Bell triplet

Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a stunning rare case of a triple merger of galaxies. This system, which astronomers have dubbed 'The Bird' - although it also bears resemblance with a cosmic Tinker Bell - is composed of two massive spiral galaxies and a third irregular galaxy.
In this image, a 30-min VLT/NACO K-band exposure has been combined with archive HST/ACS B and I-band images to produce a three-colour image of the 'Bird' interacting galaxy system. The NACO image has allowed astronomers to not only see the two previously known galaxies, but to ...

ALMA en het centrum van de Melkweg

49. ALMA en het centrum van de Melkweg

SPHERE-opname van de schijf rond AB Aurigae

50. SPHERE-opname van de schijf rond AB Aurigae

Totale zonsverduistering, La Silla-sterrenwacht, 2019

51. Totale zonsverduistering, La Silla-sterrenwacht, 2019

Total solar eclipse, La Silla Observatory, 2019

52. Total solar eclipse, La Silla Observatory, 2019

On 2 July 2019 a total solar eclipse passed over ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The eclipse lasted roughly two and a half hours, with almost two minutes of totality at 20:39 UT, and was visible across a narrow band of Chile and Argentina. To celebrate this rare event ESO invited 1000 people, including dignitaries, school children, the media, researchers, and the general public, to come to the Observatory to watch the eclipse from this unique location.

ALMA-opname van de protoplanetaire schijf rond HL Tauri

53. ALMA-opname van de protoplanetaire schijf rond HL Tauri

Kosmische vuurbal boven ALMA

54. Kosmische vuurbal boven ALMA

Drie planeten dansen boven La Silla

55. Drie planeten dansen boven La Silla

De donkere wolk Lupus 3 en bijbehorende hete, jonge sterren

56. De donkere wolk Lupus 3 en bijbehorende hete, jonge sterren

De bolvormige sterrenhoop 47 Tucanae

57. De bolvormige sterrenhoop 47 Tucanae

ALMA's afzondering

58. ALMA's afzondering

Exoplanet hunters at La Silla*

59. Exoplanet hunters at La Silla*

In the search for distant worlds, few telescopes have had as much success as ESO's 3.6-metre telescope and the Swiss 1.2-metre Leonhard Euler Telescope, both of which are shown in this image.
The 3.6-metre telescope is home to HARPS (High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher), a spectrograph with unrivalled precision, and holder of many records in the field of exoplanet research, including the discovery of the least massive exoplanet, as well as of the smallest ever measured. Together with HARPS, the Leonhard Euler Telescope has allowed astronomers to find that six exoplanets from a larger sample of 27 were orbiting ...

Conisch icoon Licancabur waakt over Chajnantor

60. Conisch icoon Licancabur waakt over Chajnantor

Yepun's laser en de Magelhaense Wolken

62. Yepun's laser en de Magelhaense Wolken

IJzige boetelingen in het maanlicht op Chajnantor

63. IJzige boetelingen in het maanlicht op Chajnantor

ESO Headquarters at sunset*

64. ESO Headquarters at sunset*

This panorama photograph shows the European Southern Observatory’s Headquarters in Garching, near Munich, Germany. The image shows the view from the roof of the main building just after sunset. This is the scientific, technical and administrative centre for ESO’s operations, and the base from which many astronomers conduct their research. The scientists, technicians and administrators who work here come from many different backgrounds, but all have one thing in common: a passion for astronomy.
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world’s most productive astronomical observatory. ESO operates telescopes at three observing sites in Chile: La ...

Close-up of the drama of star formation

65. Close-up of the drama of star formation

This very detailed enhanced-colour image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the dramatic effects of very young stars on the dust and gas from which they were born in the star-forming region NGC 6729. The baby stars are invisible in this picture, being hidden behind dust clouds at the upper left of the picture, but material they are ejecting is crashing into the surroundings at speeds of that can be as high as one million kilometres per hour. This picture was taken by the FORS1 instrument and records the scene in the light of glowing hydrogen and sulphur.

Bird’s eye view of the Very Large Telescope*

66. Bird’s eye view of the Very Large Telescope*

A bird soaring over the remote, sparsely populated Atacama Desert in northern Chile — possibly the driest desert in the world — might be surprised to come upon the technological oasis of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal. The world’s most advanced ground-based facility for astronomy, the site hosts four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes, four 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescopes, the VLT Survey Telescope (VST), and the 4.1-metre Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), seen in the distance on the next mountain peak over from the main platform.
This aerial view also shows other structures, including the Observatory Control Room ...

Paranal Observatory and the volcano Llullaillaco*

67. Paranal Observatory and the volcano Llullaillaco*

This marvellous aerial photograph of the home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), fully demonstrates the superb quality of the observing site. In the foreground we see the Paranal Observatory, located at an altitude of 2,600 metres on mount Paranal in Chile. In the background we can see the snow-capped, 6,720 meter-high volcano Llullaillaco, located a mind-boggling 190 km further East on the Argentinean border. This image is a testimony of the magnificent quality of the air and the ideal conditions for observing at this remote site.
Clearly visible in the image are the domes of the four giant 8.2-metre ...

370-million-pixel starscape of the Lagoon Nebula

68. 370-million-pixel starscape of the Lagoon Nebula

The third image of ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project is an amazing vista of the Lagoon Nebula taken with the 67-million-pixel Wide Field Imager attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. The image covers more than one and a half square degree — an area eight times larger than that of the Full Moon — with a total of about 370 million pixels. It is based on images acquired using three different broadband filters (B, V, R) and one narrow-band filter (H-alpha).
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The Trifid Nebula

69. The Trifid Nebula

The massive star factory known as the Trifid Nebula was captured in all its glory with the Wide-Field Imager camera attached to the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in northern Chile. So named for the dark dust bands that trisect its glowing heart, the Trifid Nebula is a rare combination of three nebulae types that reveal the fury of freshly formed stars and point to more star birth in the future. The field of view of the image is approximately 13 x 17 arcminutes.
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Spiral galaxy NGC 253*

70. Spiral galaxy NGC 253*

Measuring 70 000 light-years across and laying 13 million light-years away, the nearly edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 253 is revealed here in an image from the Wide Field Imager (WFI) on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory. The image is based on data obtained through four different filters (R, V, H-alpha and OIII). North is up and East to the left. The field of view is 30 arcminutes.

Glowing stellar nurseries*

71. Glowing stellar nurseries*

Colour composite image of RCW120. It reveals how an expanding bubble of ionised gas about ten light-years across is causing the surrounding material to collapse into dense clumps where new stars are then formed. The 870-micron submillimetre-wavelength data were taken with the LABOCA camera on the 12-m Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) telescope. Here, the submillimetre emission is shown as the blue clouds surrounding the reddish glow of the ionised gas (shown with data from the SuperCosmos H-alpha survey). The image also contains data from the Second Generation Digitized Sky Survey (I-band shown in blue, R-band shown in red).
This image ...

A golden halo around the ELT

72. A golden halo around the ELT

It might look like the opening scene from The Lion King, but this stunning Picture of the Week was actually taken in the Chilean Atacama Desert rather than the African savannas. Taking centre stage is ESO’s Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), or part of it, at least.
The ELT’s steel dome is about 80 metres tall and one day it will play host to the world’s biggest eye on the sky. When finished, the dome will weigh some 6100 tonnes and be capable of rotating 360 degrees on a set of 36 stationary trolleys.
This spectacular photograph of the sunrise ...

Celestial conjunction at Paranal

73. Celestial conjunction at Paranal

In the night sky over ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) observatory at Paranal, the Moon shines along with two bright companions : already aloft in the heavens and glowing in the centre of the image is Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbour, and, to its right, the giant, though more distant planet, Jupiter. Such apparent celestial near misses — although the heavenly bodies are actually tens to hundreds of millions of kilometres apart — are called conjunctions.
Still other sights delight this night view at Paranal : the radiant, reddish plane of the Milky Way, smouldering on the horizon, and an ...

Het portret van een schoonheid

74. Het portret van een schoonheid

De VST vangt drie spectaculaire nevels in één foto

75. De VST vangt drie spectaculaire nevels in één foto

76. 1001 sterren

Stralende Melkweg boven La Silla

77. Stralende Melkweg boven La Silla

Nieuw inzicht in stofschijven

78. Nieuw inzicht in stofschijven

VLT-opname van de Medusanevel

79. VLT-opname van de Medusanevel

VLT-opname van de komeetglobule CG4

80. VLT-opname van de komeetglobule CG4

VST maakt een zeer detailrijke foto van de Driehoeknevel

81. VST maakt een zeer detailrijke foto van de Driehoeknevel

Nieuwe afbeelding van komeet ISON

82. Nieuwe afbeelding van komeet ISON

VISTA voor zonsondergang

83. VISTA voor zonsondergang

De Potloodnevel, een vreemd gevormd overblijfsel van een enorme explosie

84. De Potloodnevel, een vreemd gevormd overblijfsel van een enorme explosie

APEX, de schildwacht van Chajnantor

85. APEX, de schildwacht van Chajnantor

The VLT Survey Telescope: the largest telescope in the world designed for visible light sky surveys

86. The VLT Survey Telescope: the largest telescope in the world designed for visible light sky surveys

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) is the latest telescope to be added to ESO’s Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is housed in an enclosure immediately adjacent to the four VLT Unit Telescopes on the summit of Cerro Paranal. The VST is a 2.6-metre wide-field survey telescope with a field of view twice as broad as the full Moon. It is the largest telescope in the world dedicated to sky surveys in visible light. The VST was designed and built by the INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy as part of a joint venture between INAF ...

Stellar nursery NGC 3603*

87. Stellar nursery NGC 3603*

NGC 3603 is a starburst region : a cosmic factory where stars form frantically from the nebula’s extended clouds of gas and dust. Located 22,000 light-years away from the Sun, it is the closest region of this kind known in our galaxy, providing astronomers with a local test bed for studying the intense star formation processes, very common in other galaxies, but hard to observe in detail because of their large distance.
The newly released image, obtained with the FORS instrument attached to one of the four 8.2-metre VLT Unit Telescopes at Cerro Paranal, Chile, is a three-colour combination of ...

One million stars — towards the dark heart of the Milky Way*

88. One million stars — towards the dark heart of the Milky Way*

With this remarkable VISTA mosaic we look deep into the dusty heart of our own Milky Way galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius (the Archer). About one million stars are revealed in this picture, most of them not seen in visible light pictures. As well as absorbing light, the dust also scatters blue light from the distant stars and makes the central part of this huge starscape appear very red. This image is a mosaic created from VISTA images taken through Y, J and Ks filters in the near-infrared part of the spectrum. The image is about 2 degrees by ...

Group portrait of the VLT with the galaxy

89. Group portrait of the VLT with the galaxy

The Milky Way, shining in its full splendour on top of the four Unit Telescopes and one of the Auxiliary Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT).

Spiral galaxy NGC 4945

90. Spiral galaxy NGC 4945

Seen edge-on, observations of NGC 4945 suggest that this hive of stars is a spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way, with swirling, luminous arms and a bar-shaped centre. Sites of active star formation, known as HII regions, are seen prominently in the image, appearing bright pink. These resemblances aside, NGC 4945 has a brighter centre that likely harbours a supermassive black hole, which is devouring reams of matter and blasting energy out into space. NGC 4945 is about 13 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus (the Centaur) and is beautifully revealed in this image taken with ...

Aandenken aan de zonsverduistering boven La Silla

91. Aandenken aan de zonsverduistering boven La Silla

Vier lasers boven Paranal

92. Vier lasers boven Paranal

De planetaire nevel ESO 378-1

93. De planetaire nevel ESO 378-1

De theatrale opkomst van een hemelreiziger

94. De theatrale opkomst van een hemelreiziger

Briljantrood en rook

95. Briljantrood en rook

Het stervormingsgebied Gum 15

96. Het stervormingsgebied Gum 15

Paranal-platform na zonsondergang

97. Paranal-platform na zonsondergang

The Milky Way glitters brightly over ALMA

98. The Milky Way glitters brightly over ALMA

The Milky Way glitters brightly over ALMA antennas, in this image taken by the ESO Ultra High Definition Expedition team as they capture the site in 4K quality.

De planetaire nevel Abell 33, vastgelegd met ESO’s Very Large Telescope

99. De planetaire nevel Abell 33, vastgelegd met ESO’s Very Large Telescope

Het stervormingsgebied NGC 6559

100. Het stervormingsgebied NGC 6559

Usage of ESO Images, Videos, Web texts and Music

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