Colourful skies over Paranal Observatory

Paranal Observatory is home to ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), the world's most advanced optical instrument. The VLT consists of four Unit Telescopes, three of which are visible in this image, which can be combined to form a giant interferometer. The Milky Way might look beautifully detailed here, but one VLT telescope can see objects that are an incredible four billion times fainter than what can be seen with the unaided eye. This has stimulated a new age of discoveries, with the VLT recording several notable scientific firsts, including the first image of an extrasolar planet.