CHILE Mount Paranal -- Dec 1999 -- Aerial view of the Paranal summit, with the Sun setting over the cloud-covered Pacific Ocean.

CHILE Mount Paranal -- Dec 1999 -- Aerial view of the Paranal summit, with the Sun setting over the cloud-covered Pacific Ocean. These telescopes are among those which have made the clearest pictures of space yet using revolutionary technology developed by British and American scientists. This 'Lucky Picture' technology allows ground-based telescopes such as these to capture images free of atmospheric distortion, which has always given the Hubble space-based telescope an edge on coventional ones. The developers hope to make the technology widely availabel, greatly enhancing the image quality of any ground-based telescope that uses it. Astronomers say the improved clarity of these images will lead to better understanding of how star clusters behave, among other things. Pictured are the fourth VLT Unit Telescope, YEPUN, is in the front, with the main mirror cover in place. From left to right in the background, ANTU , KUEYEN and MELIPAL . The roof of the Control Building is seen at the far side of the platform. Some of the concrete supports for the smaller, movable telescopes of the VLT Interferometric Array and the rails on which they will move, are seen to the left. The central, mostly subterranean laboratory in which the light beams from all the telescopes will come together at the interferometric instruments is about halfway between ANTU and YEPUN -- Picture by Lightroom Photos / ESO