ESO’s Very Large Telescope

“Space Butterfly” in Vela offers remarkable view of twin-lobed planetary nebula

7 August 2020 Astronomy Now

ESO’s Very Large Telescope captures a colourful view of an unusual bipolar planetary nebula resembling a vast butterfly stretching up to four light years across in the southern constellation Vela.

The Very Large Telescope peers into the Crux of the Milky Way, revealing a sea of stars

14 July 2020 Astronomy Now

The Very Large Telescope and the FORS instrument look into the Southern Cross, revealing a sea of colourful stars scattered like gems on black velvet.

Star’s orbit around black hole more proof Einstein was right

16 April 2020 Astronomy Now

After decades of observation, researchers confirm the orbit of a star in close orbit around the Milky Way’s central black hole obeys Einstein’s predictions.

A deep infrared view of the Orion Nebula from the Very Large Telescope

24 March 2019 Astronomy Now

A deep infrared view of the Orion Nebula reveals an abundance of faint brown dwarfs and an unexpected number of planetary-mass objects, key elements in studies of star formation and the environments that produce them.

Relativity passes another test, this one beyond the Milky Way

22 June 2018 Astronomy Now

Putting general relativity to the test, astronomers compared the known gravity of a galaxy with the bending of spacetime needed to produce a spectacular ‘Einstein ring’ and found, once again, that Einstein was correct.

Giant bubbles observed on red giant star’s surface

29 December 2017 Astronomy Now

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have for the first time directly observed granulation patterns on the surface of a star outside the Solar System — the ageing red giant π1 Gruis.

First light achieved for next-generation planet-hunter

6 December 2017 Astronomy Now

A new planet-seeking instrument installed on the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile has made its first observations, beginning a search for exoplanets with unprecedented precision by looking at the minuscule changes in the light of their host stars.

Spectroscopic survey probes uncharted depths of Hubble Ultra Deep Field

1 December 2017 Astronomy Now

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have conducted the deepest spectroscopic survey ever. They focused on the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, measuring distances and properties of 1600 very faint galaxies, including 72 galaxies that have never been detected before, even by Hubble itself.

Best ever image of another star’s surface and atmosphere

26 August 2017 Astronomy Now

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer astronomers have constructed the most detailed image ever of a star — the red supergiant star Antares. They have also made the first map of the velocities of material in the atmosphere of a star other than the Sun, revealing unexpected turbulence in Antares’s huge extended atmosphere.

Supermassive black holes feed on cosmic jellyfish

26 August 2017 Astronomy Now

Observations of “Jellyfish galaxies” with ESO’s Very Large Telescope have revealed a previously unknown way to fuel supermassive black holes. It seems the mechanism that produces the tentacles of gas and newborn stars that give these galaxies their nickname also makes it possible for the gas to reach the central regions of the galaxies, feeding the black hole that lurks in each of them and causing it to shine brilliantly.