get ready to observe with ESO s Very Large Telescope, Nature prepares for her own grand

display. As night falls over the desert, the southern sky reveals its nocturnal beauty,

leaving the spectator in silent amazement. Some people, however, don t just stare at

the spectacle. With great skill, they record these unique moments for everyone to see they

are the photographers of the night. Anyone who has been up at night in a remote, high

place such as at one of ESO s observatories in Chile may have been lucky enough to experience

the splendid view of the myriad of stars shining brightly from the heavens. It is a both a

dream and a challenge for a photographer to capture an image of this incredible view.

Yuri Beletsky is an ESO Fellow and astronomer at the Paranal Observatory. When not observing

with the world s most advanced telescope, the VLT, he actively lives out his passion

for taking pictures of the southern sky.

Over time, Yuri has produced many spectacular images of Paranal against the wonderful backdrop

of the night sky. A laser beam shooting out of one of the VLT s Unit Telescopes. The bright

constellation of the Southern Cross.

The Pipe Nebula with its picturesque dust lane crossing the Milky Way. Sunlight reflected by small particles of dust

lying in between the planets causes the faint zodiacal light. Paranal is an ideal site for

astrophotographers as it offers crystal-clear, extremely dark skies with perfect weather

conditions on about 320 nights per year. Gerhard H depohl, an electronic engineer at Paranal,

knows about the photographic benefits of the VLT s site. My favourite type of photography

is landscape photography and in particular images of the landscape at night, showing

the Milky Way in the night sky here in the Atacama desert. And here at Paranal I can

have the telescopes as a nice foreground and the stars and the night sky as a background

The bright plane of our Milky Way as it arches above the VLT. An image like this can only

be obtained under top-notch stargazing conditions, such as those offered at Paranal. Astrophotography

is very demanding. The photographer has to stay out in the dark and in the chill of the

night for many hours. Sometimes it can take several nights of painstaking work in these

tough conditions to obtain just one image and the equipment must always function flawlessly.

phane Guisard is the head of the optical group at Paranal. His astrophotography benefits

from his professional expertise as an optical engineer specialising in telescopes. I take

pictures of galaxies and nebulae with a telescope, but I also like to take wide-field images

of the sky with a terrestrial foreground. I like to share the beauty of the sky and

the Universe. This photographic mosaic of the central parts of our galactic home is

just one example of St phane s work. Taken with an amateur telescope coupled to a CCD

camera, the image combines about 1200 photos for a total exposure time of around 250 hours.

phane has also produced a spectacular series of timelapse sequences at the Paranal site.

Producing such sequences is quite a challenge as the images must be taken at regular intervals,

and all the parameters must match perfectly to obtain the sensation of the moving firmament.

There is no doubt that Yuri, Gerhard and St phane will continue to produce stunning images

of the starry skies above Paranal. The wonderful quality of the images is a testament to the

splendour of the night sky at ESO s Paranal Observatory. By sharing their work, these

three astrophotographers have brought their magnificent view of the southern sky to a

wider audience. This is Dr J signing off for the ESOcast. Join me again next time for another

cosmic adventure. The Sun sets behind Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert Thomas

Lucas Normal Thomas Lucas Microsoft Word 10.1 ]Qp* The Sun sets behind Cerro Paranal in

the Chilean Atacama desert Title Microsoft Word Document NB6W Word.Document.8