Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 May 4 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. 3 ATs Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Yuri Beletsky ([5]Carnegie [6]Las Campanas Observatory, [7]TWAN) Explanation: Despite their resemblance to [8]R2D2, these three are not the droids you're looking for. Instead, the enclosures house 1.8 meter [9]Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) at Paranal Observatory in the [10]Atacama Desert region of Chile. The ATs are designed to be used [11]for interferometry, a technique for achieving extremely high resolution observations, in concert with the observatory's 8 meter [12]Very Large Telescope units. A total of four ATs are operational, each fitted with a transporter [13]that moves the telescope along a track allowing different arrays with the large unit telescopes. To work as an interferometer, the light from each telescope is brought to a common focal point by a system of mirrors in underground tunnels. Above these three ATs, the Large and Small [14]Magellanic Clouds are the far, far away satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way. In the clear and otherwise dark southern skies, planet Earth's greenish atmospheric [15]airglow stretches faintly along the horizon. Tomorrow's picture: death by black hole __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy, [33]Accessibility Notices A service of: [34]ASD at [35]NASA / [36]GSFC, [37]NASA Science Activation & [38]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/three_ats_beletsky.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.instagram.com/yuribeletsky/ 5. http://carnegiescience.edu/ 6. http://www.lco.cl/ 7. https://twanight.org/about/ 8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxVHsWlE7hE 9. http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti/at/ 10. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/144989/atacama-greening 11. http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti/at/ 12. http://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/telescopes/vlti/index.html 13. http://gerardstravelnotes.blogspot.com/2008/01/holy-moving-telescopes-batman.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060809.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110817.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240503.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240504 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240505.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 34. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 35. https://www.nasa.gov/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 37. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 38. http://www.mtu.edu/