No matter how many times we’ve marvelled at the Photopic Sky Survey panorama or at the numerous time-lapse videos of the night sky, we’re still drawn to the ever-changing heavens above.
Astrophotographers Stephane Guisard and Jose Francisco Salgado travelled to the Paranal Observatory on a 2,635m-high mountain in Chile’s Atacama Desert and took all the images in this most wonderous time-lapse video. Not only does it show the stars, but also the four separate optical telescopes – the Very Large Telescope ( or VLT) – that monitor the movement of the celestial bodies. Have a look at the video below.
According to Wikipedia’s article on adaptive optics, the laser beam you see emanating from one of the telescopes is in a bid to correct the distortions or blurry effects created by atmospheric turbulence.
[via Popular Science]