VISTA Telescope Startrail

 
A startrail in a cloudy sky as seen above the VISTA telescope in Paranal. VISTA ― the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy ― is part of ESO’s Paranal Observatory. VISTA works at near-infrared wavelengths and is the world’s largest survey telescope. Its large mirror, wide field of view and very sensitive detectors are revealing a completely new view of the southern sky. The telescope is housed on the peak adjacent to the one hosting the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) and shares the same exceptional observing conditions. VISTA has a main mirror that is 4.1 meters across. In photographic terms it can be thought of as a 67 megapixel digital camera with a 13 000 mm f/3.25 mirror lens. At the heart of the telescope is a huge three-tonne camera with 16 state-of-the-art infrared-sensitive detectors.