Una apertura de hormigón
Un agujero circular crea el marco perfecto para la Imagen de la Semana de hoy, tomada al atardecer en el Observatorio Paranal de ESO, en Chile. La abertura — que se asemeja a la apertura de una cámara, o a la pupila de un ojo — convierte el lugar en un juego de formas. "No puedo evitar notar que las esferas y los círculos están por todas partes en la arquitectura astronómica", reflexiona el fotógrafo, el astrónomo de ESO, Luca Sbordone. Los dos redondos marcos y la cúpula esférica que se ven a lo lejos nos recuerdan a los planetas, las lunas y las estrellas que descubrimos al mirar en las profundidades del cosmos.
Los círculos se encuentran alrededor de las bases de los recintos de cada una de las cuatro Unidades de Telescopio (UT) que conforman el Very Large Telescope (VLT) de ESO. Los recortes forman parte de los soportes estructurales para la planta de observación de los telescopios de 8,2 metros. Aunque las aberturas ayudaron a crear esta impresionante composición, también cumplen una función práctica. Reducen la cantidad de hormigón necesaria para construir soportes, además de proporcionar un mejor flujo de aire e inercia térmica alrededor de los telescopios, minimizando cualquier efecto adverso que pudiera distorsionar las observaciones.
Esta imagen fue tomada bajo el telescopio UT3 y, a la derecha, se puede ver el borde del telescopio UT2. A lo lejos hay un Telescopio Auxiliar (AT), uno de los cuatro telescopios móviles que alimenta luz al Interferómetro VLT. Medio iluminado por el sol poniente, el recinto redondo del AT parece una Luna en cuarto creciente.
Crédito:ESO/L. Sbordone
Sobre la imagen
| Identificador: | potw2618a |
| Idioma: | es |
| Tipo: | Fotográfico |
| Fecha de publicación: | 4 de Mayo de 2026 a las 06:00 |
| Tamaño: | 6764 x 5073 px |
Sobre el objeto
| Nombre: | Auxiliary Telescopes, VLT Unit Telescopes |
| Tipo: | Unspecified : Technology : Observatory |
Formatos de imagen
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