Timelapse video of the La Silla control room

This timelapse video of the telescope control room at ESO's La Silla observatory highlights the activity of a night's observing. It is from this room that astronomers will control the ESO 3.6-metre telescope as they carry out observations of the nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, in the hunt for an exoplanet as part of the Pale Red Dot campaign.

Pale Red Dot is an international search for an Earth-like exoplanet around the closest star to us, Proxima Centauri. It will use HARPS, attached to ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla Observatory, as well as the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT) and the Burst Optical Observer and Transient Exploring System (BOOTES). The public will see how teams of astronomers with different specialities work together to collect, analyse and interpret data, which may or may not be able to confirm the presence of an Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest neighbour. The outreach campaign consists ofblog posts and social media updates on the Pale Red Dot Twitter account and using the hashtag#PaleRedDot. For more information visit the Pale Red Dot website: http://www.palereddot.org