CHL: VLT Observatory

PARANAL, CHILE - OCTOBER 26: The four telescopes of the Very Large Telescope (VLT) as the sun rises over the Atacama desert on October 27, 2000, in Paranal, Chile. The VLT Observatory comprises, among others, four 8,2 meter optical telescopes organized in an array formation. The four optical telescopes, the Antu telescope, the Kueyen telescope, the Melipal telescope, and the Yepun telescope work together and their data is being combined by interferometry to finally obtain a resolution high enough to see a man on the moon. The World's largest optical telescope is being operated by the European Southern Observatory ESO, it is located at the Cerro Paranal, believed to be the driest area on Earth, on a 2,635 m high mountain in Northern Chile, about 120 km south of the town of Antofagasta and 12 km inland from the Pacific Coast. (Photo by Sven Creutzmann/Getty Images)