The European Southern Observatory operates several observatory sites in the southern hemisphere, including the world famous Paranal Observatory, home to the Very Large Telescope (the VLT). This afternoon I stumbled across an amazing video of the VLT which shows this incredible facility, high in the Atacama Desert, in a way I’ve never seen it before — it’s in 3D!
The video is the work of astrophotographer and head Optics Engineer on the VLT, Stéphane Guisard. Stéphane has recently been working with ESO and fellow astrophotographer Serge Brunier to create some truly stunning images for ESO’s GigaGalaxy Zoom project, which you can check out here. There’s lots I love about this video. From the ISS zipping over to the excited movements of the telescopes and the way it appears the observatories are living and breathing things inspecting the skies above them. Grab a pair of 3D specs and check it out for yourself below.
Incidentally a feature-length 3-D documentary movie was shot at Paranal over this summer (or their winter): “The Eye 3D” will premier later this month at a festival and then hit selected cinemas (in Germany at first) which already have modern 3D projectors.