(fwd) Solitude of an Observatory -- Panorama with La Silla

[David Drum <david@xxxxxx>]

Hello everyone,

I thought I would forward on this press release.

-- forwarded message --
Newsgroups: sci.space.news
Subject: Solitude of an Observatory -- Panorama with La Silla (Forwarded)
Date: Tue, 26 Oct 1999 21:22:48 GMT
Sender: <news@xxxxxxxxxxx>

ESO Education and Public Relations Dept.

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Text with all links and the photo is available on the ESO Website at URL:
http://www.eso.org/outreach/press-rel/pr-1999/phot-39-99.html
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For immediate release: 26 October 1999

ESO Press Photo 39/99

Solitude of an Observatory

Panoramic View with La Silla

  ESO Press Photo 39/99

  This unique panoramic view of the La Silla area stretches across an
  angle of nearly 270 deg and was obtained by combining nine 6x9 cm
  exposures with a Linhof Technika camera. It was made at sunset from a
  point near the access road that descends to the Pelicano Camp at the
  entry to the ESO area. The 3.6-m telescope tower is at the left on
  the observatory ridge, the living quarters are to the far right of the
  site and many of the telescope domes are seen in between. Photograph
  and computer work by Hans Hermann Heyer (ESO EPR Dept.).

The La Silla Observatory is located in the Chilean Atacama Desert, one of
the driest and loneliest areas of the world. The land around this isolated
peak was acquired in 1964 and following some years of construction work,
the inauguration of ESO's first observatory took place just over 30
years ago, in March 1969. The solitude of this remote desert site is
well illustrated by the above panorama, obtained in 1996.

While some of the smaller telescopes have been closed during recent years,
front-line observations continue with the larger telescopes, aided by
a multitude of new and improved astronomical instruments. The largest
is the ESO 3.6-m telescope with the ADONIS Adaptive Optics unit, the CES
high-resolution spectrograph, the EFOSC2 and soon also the TIMMI2 infrared
instrument. A new project for this telescope is the HARPS high-accuracy
radial velocity spectrograph. The 3.5-m New Technology Telescope (NTT)
operates with the SUSI camera and the multimode EMMI (visual) and SOFI
(infrared) instruments.

The MPG/ESO 2.2-m/WFI wide-field facility, as well as the 1.52-m telescope
with the new FEROS spectrograph and the Danish 1.54-m telescope with
the multi-mode DFOSC instrument are also very productive.

The same is true for the 15-m Swedish-ESO submillimetre Telescope
which will next receive a new bolometric array that will pave the way
for ALMA. The newly installed Swiss 1.2-m Leonard Euler telescope with
the CORALIE echelle spectrograph is successfully "hunting" for planets
around other stars. Some other, smaller telescopes are also used for
specialised tasks.

While most of the observations with these facilities concern research
projects in their own right, others are oriented towards preparatory
projects for subsequent VLT programmes.

As other observatories in this geographical area, La Silla is located
far from sources of disturbing light and, as the Paranal Observatory
that houses the VLT, it has one of the darkest night skies on the Earth.

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This is the caption to ESO PR Photo 39/99. It may be reproduced, if credit
is given to the European Southern Observatory.

High-quality photographic prints of this panorama (approx. 4.40 m x 0.50 m)
will soon become available from the ESO EPR Dept.. The price will depend on
the number of orders received. Please contact Mrs. E. Voelk (Tel:
+4989-32006276; Fax: +4989-3202362; evoelk@xxxxxxx) for further details.
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            Copyright ESO Education & Public Relations Department
           Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2, D-85748 Garching, Germany
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-- end of forwarded message --

Regards,

David K. Drum
david@xxxxxxxx
-- 
It's hard to be bored when you're as stupid as a line. [1]
Reality has a tendency to be so uncomfortably real. [2]
When you proceed deliberately, mistakes don't cascade, they instruct. [3]
What you notice becomes your life. [4]
[1] Vernor Vinge [2] Neil Peart [3] Stewart Brand [4] Michael Chitwood

----- End forwarded message -----


Regards,

David Drum
david@xxxxxx