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29-537: La Silla may refer to: La Silla Observatory , an astronomical observatory in Chile Cerro de la Silla , a mountain and natural monument located within the metropolitan area of the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, in northeastern Mexico. La Silla Awards , the awards granted by the Asociación Dominicana de Profesionales de la Industria del Cine 2187 La Silla ,

58-467: A first light is always a moment of great excitement, both for the people who design and build the telescope and for the astronomical community, who may have anticipated the moment for many years while the telescope was under construction. A well-known and spectacular astronomical object is usually chosen as a subject. The famous 5.08-metre (200 in) Hale Telescope of Palomar Observatory saw first light on 26 January 1949, targeting NGC 2261 under

87-556: A new agreement between the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) and ESO, the instrument is operated by MPG until the end of September 2016. The telescope hosts three instruments: the 67-million pixel Wide Field Imager with a field of view as large as the full Moon, which has taken many amazing images of celestial objects; GROND, the Gamma-Ray Burst Optical/Near-Infrared Detector, which chases

116-594: A revolutionary design for optimal image quality. NTT saw first light in March 1989. The telescope chamber is ventilated by a system of flaps which optimize the air flow across the NTT optimizing the dome and mirror seeing . To prevent heat input to the building, all motors in the telescope are water cooled and all the electronics boxes are insulated and cooled. The primary mirror of the NTT is actively controlled to preserve its figure at all telescope positions. The secondary mirror position

145-505: A stony Eunomia asteroid from the middle region of the asteroid belt Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title La Silla . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=La_Silla&oldid=924716865 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

174-503: A workshop and storage area. The dedication ceremony of the road to the summit took place in March 1966, two months after completion of the road. On 25 March 1969, the ESO site at La Silla was finally formally inaugurated by President Eduardo Frei Montalva . With a permanent base of dormitories, workshops, hotels and several functioning telescopes, the observatory was fully operational. The ESO 1.5-metre and ESO 1-metre telescopes had been erected in

203-417: Is also actively controlled in three directions. The optimized airflow, the thermal controls, and the active optics give the excellent image quality of the NTT. The NTT has active instead of adaptive optics : it corrects the defects and deformation of the telescope and mirror, but does not correct the turbulence; it ensures that the optics is always in perfect shape. Together with the thermal control, it allows

232-474: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages La Silla Observatory The La Silla telescopes and instruments are located 150 km northeast of La Serena , on the outskirts of the Atacama Desert , one of the driest and most remote areas in the world. Like other observatories in this region, La Silla is far from sources of light pollution and, like

261-450: Is the first use of a telescope (or, in general, a new instrument) to take an astronomical image after it has been constructed. This is often not the first viewing using the telescope; optical tests will probably have been performed to adjust the components. The first light image is normally of little scientific interest and is of poor quality, since the various telescope elements are yet to be adjusted for optimum efficiency. Despite this,

290-483: The Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 soon gave way to initial disappointment when a flaw prevented adjustments for proper operation. The expected first light image quality was finally achieved after a 1993 servicing mission by Space Shuttle Endeavour . The Large Binocular Telescope had its first light with a single primary mirror on 12 October 2005, which was a view of NGC 891 . The second primary mirror

319-603: The Paranal Observatory —home to the Very Large Telescope —it has some of the darkest night skies on Earth. Following the decision in 1963 to approve Chile as the site for the ESO observatory, scouting parties were sent to various locations to assess their suitability. The site that was decided upon was La Silla in the southern part of the Atacama Desert , 600 km north of Santiago de Chile and at an altitude of 2400 metres. Besides being government property, it had

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348-531: The tembetás . There are three types of petroglyph designs at La Silla: human and animal figures, abstract geometrical designs and purely ornamental ensembles. Beside the petroglyphs there exists also a stone circle near La Silla, which is suggested as an astronomical tool. Three rocks aligned during the El Molle culture with Alpha Carinae , Beta Carinae and Alpha Centauri or Beta Centauri . This alignment occurred during late April and during May and could signal

377-534: The 2.2m telescope began operations, while in March 1989, the 3.5 m New Technology Telescope (NTT) saw first light . The program reached its apex with the installation of the SEST in 1987 (Swedish ESO Submillimetre Telescope), the only large submillimetre telescope in the southern hemisphere, which was a combined project between ESO and the Swedish Natural Science Research Council. Around the end of

406-575: The Danish National Telescope and the REM, TRAPPIST and TAROT telescopes. The following telescopes have now been decommissioned: The Swiss T70 telescope was a 70 cm aperture telescope for photometry that had a first light in 1980. It was retired in 1998, when the Euler Telescope was commissioned. The Swiss T70 was a Cassegrain reflector design mounted on an Equatorial fork mount. It

435-474: The NTT to reach the ambient seeing, but it does not improve it. The 2.2-metre telescope has been in operation at La Silla since early 1984, and is on indefinite loan to ESO from the Max Planck Society (German: Max Planck Gesellschaft or MPG). Telescope time is shared between MPG and ESO observing programmes, while the operation and maintenance of the telescope are ESO's responsibility. However, due to

464-546: The New Technology Telescope (NTT), the 3.6-m ESO Telescope, and the 2.2-m Max-Planck-ESO Telescope (MPG/ESO Telescope). In addition La Silla hosts several other national and project telescopes such as the ESO 1-metre Schmidt Telescope, the 1.54-m Danish Telescope, the 1.2-m Leonhard Euler Telescope, the Rapid Eye Mount telescope, TRAPPIST and TAROT. These telescopes are not operated by ESO and hence do not fall under

493-566: The added benefits of being in a dry, flat and easily accessible area, yet isolated and remote from any artificial light and dust sources. Originally named the Cinchado, it was renamed La Silla ("the saddle" in Spanish) after its saddle-like shape. On October 30, 1964, the contracts were signed and an area of 627 square kilometres (242.1  sq mi ) was purchased the following year. During 1965, temporary facilities were erected with living quarters,

522-655: The afterglows of the most powerful explosions in the Universe, known as gamma-ray bursts ; and the high-resolution spectrograph, FEROS, used to make detailed studies of stars. MPG's 2.2-metre telescope in La Silla also has a twin brother located at the Calar Alto Observatory in southern Spain. La Silla also hosts several national and project telescopes not operated by ESO. Among them are the Swiss Euler Telescope,

551-460: The beginning of the cold season. Farmers could have used this tool to determine when to move their herds, mostly camelidae , into their villages. There are signs of illicit excavations at La Silla since the 1990s and in 2017 some vandalism was discovered. Another ESO site with archaeological testimonies in its vicinity is the ALMA site. First light (astronomy) In astronomy , first light

580-408: The century some of the original telescopes were closed: the 1m Schmidt closed in 1998 and the 1.5m in 2002, while new equipment owned by various foreign observatories was introduced. A 1-metre telescope owned by Marseille Observatory opened in 1998, followed by a 1.2-metre telescope from Geneva Observatory in 2000. ESO operates three major optical and near infrared telescopes at the La Silla site:

609-570: The direction of American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble . The image was published in many magazines and is available on Caltech Archives. The Isaac Newton Telescope had two first lights: one in England in 1965 with its original mirror, and another in 1984 at La Palma island. The second first light was done with a video camera that showed the Crab Pulsar flashing. Elation at first light images by

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638-541: The first light viewed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was from the star HD 84406 for the purpose of testing and aligning the focus of the telescope's 18 mirrors . On 11 February 2022. The New York Times reported that "first light" images from the James Webb Space Telescope were released - as well as a related NASA alignment video (2/11/2022; 3:00) . On 6 July 2022, NASA released

667-555: The late 1960s, and were joined in 1968 by the Gran Prismo Objectif telescope, which had previously been used in South Africa. These three telescopes can be seen in this order from right to left in the background of the image on the left from June 1968. By 1976, the largest telescope planned, the § ESO 3.6 m Telescope , started operations. It was subsequently to have a 1.4m CAT (Coudé Auxiliary Telescope) attached. In 1984,

696-649: The planets within the Gliese 581 planetary system , which contains what may be the first known rocky planet in a habitable zone , outside the Solar System. Several telescopes at La Silla played a crucial role in linking gamma-ray bursts —the most energetic explosions in the Universe since the Big Bang—with the explosions of massive stars. Since 1987, the ESO La Silla Observatory has also played an important role in

725-468: The responsibility of La Silla Science Operations. This 3.6 m Cassegrain telescope started operations in 1976 and has been constantly upgraded since, including the installation of a new secondary mirror that has kept the telescope in its place as one of the most efficient and productive engines of astronomical research. The telescope hosts HARPS , the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher,

754-440: The study and follow-up of the nearest recent supernova, SN 1987A . Hundreds of rock engravings, also called petroglyphs , can be found all around La Silla. These are attributed to the 300 to 700 CE El Molle culture . The El Molle culture have their origin as hunter-gatherers that developed a new way of life based on horticulture and village life. They are known for their pottery and body ornaments, such as necklaces and

783-494: The world's foremost exoplanet hunter. HARPS is a spectrograph with unrivalled precision and is the most successful finder of low-mass exoplanets to date. Since 2022, the 3.6 m telescope has also hosted NIRPS, the Near Infra Red Planet Searcher. The ESO New Technology Telescope (NTT) is an Alt-Az , 3.58-metre Richey-Chretien telescope which pioneered the use of active optics . The telescope and its enclosure had

812-652: Was equipped with a P7 Photometer, and replaced the Swiss 0.4-metre telescope , which was in use from November 1975 until March 1980. As with the Euler Telescope, the Swiss T70 and 0.4-metre telescopes were operated by the Geneva Observatory . About 300 scientific papers based on observations taken at La Silla are published each year. The HARPS spectrograph has found a large number of low-mass extrasolar planets. It detected

841-479: Was installed in January 2006 and became fully operational in January 2008. The 10.4-metre (1,040 cm) Gran Telescopio Canarias had a first light image of Tycho 1205081 on 14 July 2007. The IRIS solar space observatory achieved first light on 17 July 2013. The PI noted: "The quality of images and spectra we are receiving from IRIS is amazing. This is just what we were hoping for ..." On 4 February 2022,

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