Background: Paranal, at 2635 metres in the Atacama Desert

Background

ESO's news this week - the double debris disc found with the Very Large Telescope and the arrival of more than half the Extremely Large Telescope's mirror segments - both come from the same place, so the place is worth knowing. ESO's Paranal Observatory stands at 2635 metres above sea level in the Atacama Desert of Chile. ESO calls it one of the very best astronomical observing sites in the world and the flagship facility for European ground-based astronomy. Paranal hosts the Very Large Telescope and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA), along with other scientific and support facilities.