Astrophotography at the VLT

After a night of astrophotography with the VLT as a backdrop I decide it is time for more astro-porn…in the shape of VISTA (Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy). 

Before that, however, it is time to do a little bit more with the VLT… what a difficult life! During breakfast I listen to Pink Floyd as I look out at the imposing telescopes on the hill. 

Remembering the night before: it was a splendid night observing. One of the many challenges I faced was polar aligning my telescope and Astrotrac in the southern hemisphere. In the Northern hemisphere we usually set the telescope using Polaris (the Northern Pole Star).

Here in the Southern hemisphere, the usual method is to use Sigma Octantis, the Southern Pole Star: but it isn't very bright and with little experience of the Southern skies, I found no obvious stars to align by. Instead I used what is called a 'drift method', which was hard - very hard. After a couple of hours I managed to get my kit reasonably well polar aligned. 

The galactic centre, with the telescopes of the
VLT in the foreground. How lucky am I...

My first target was Rho Ophuicus, a superb target for astrophotographers, the giant star Antares sits in the middle of this beautiful part of the sky and close by is the distant globular cluster M4. Dark nebulae snaked across the sky. With the tail of Scorpius swaying away across the backdrop of the galactic centre, it was an incredible sight.  I remembered the ancient civilisations who carved the petroglyphs at La Silla observatory, they saw not the light, but the dark. To them the dark nebulae was the Lama, and the star Alpha Centauri was the eye of the lama. Always we look to the sky.

Back to this morning, however! From the Residencia, we enter the VLT control room and I am met by Julien. He is a resident French astronomer at the VLT, and serves 135 nights a year. He is away from his family 135 nights per year, but he is not deterred as he loves his job, a passion that runs through this place for sure. 

We set up a live web cast to home!! The Kielder Observatory and to the UK, it doesn't work brilliantly as we are using wi-fi and the signal goes when I try to go outside with the web-cam, anyway we continue to broadcast and we have followers! It works, even if only briefly, and we show viewers the telescopes and the future E-ELT control room. Here you see Valentina and I chatting to followers about the Control Room. If you joined us, thank you! 

I am once more shown around the control room and am overwhelmed at the sight of the station for the new planned 39m E-ELT (European Extremely Large Telescope)... all ready to control this behemoth of a telescope. Thing is, it’s not built yet and it will take 10 years or more until it is. But... it’s coming and its VERY big, it will dwarf the enormous unit telescopes here at Paranal. I venture outside and can see the road that snakes up the hill to Cerro Armazones, where the telescope will live,. It’s exciting to think that science continues to search for answers and is not afraid to be daring and build bigger and better instruments. To be here is quite an honour.

Twilight at the auxiliary telescopes of the VLT

Night starts to draw in and the sun starts to set, and as usual all the scientists gather outside to see the spectacle, I turn and look in the opposite direction and see the sky turn pink and lavender again, its unrivalled in the natural beauty it reveals. I put away the camera so I can watch the sunset instead of a screen... I see the shadow of the hill in which I and the VLT is standing, but the shadow casts way off into the distance and falls on the hill where the E-ELT will be built: pure poetry.