Very Large TelescopeVLTobservatory located on the mountain Cerro
Paranal (2,635 metres [8,645 feet]) in Chile and consisting of
four telescopes with mirrors of 8.2 metres (27 feet) in diameter
and four others with mirrors 1.8 metres (5.9 feet) in diameter.
These telescopes can operate individually or together as an
interferometer that functions like a telescope with a mirror 200
metres (600 feet) in diameter. The large telescopes are named
Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, which are the names for the
Sun, the Moon, the Southern Cross, and Venus in the language of
the Mapuche people. Construction on of the VLT began in 1991,
and the its first observations were made in 1998. Among the
VLT’s notable discoveries are the first direct spectrum of an
extrasolar planet, HR 8799c, and the determination of the
distance (more than 13 billion light-years) to the farthest -
known astronomical object, the gamma-ray burst GRB 090423. The
VLT also made the first direct measurement of the mass of an
extrasolar planet, HD 2094