La Silla Observatory facts for kids

Quick facts for kids La Silla Observatory
Organization	European Southern Observatory
Location	Coquimbo Region, Chile
Coordinates	29°15.67′S 70°43.88′W / 29.26117°S 70.73133°W / -29.26117; -70.73133
Altitude	2,400 metres (7,900 ft)
Established	1964 (1964)
Telescopes New Technology Telescope 3.5 m reflector ESO 3.6-metre 3.6 m reflector MPG/ESO 2.2-metre 2.2-m reflector Danish National Telescope 1.5 m reflector Euler Telescope 1.2 m reflector ESO 1 m Schmidt 1.0 m reflector REM Telescope 0.6 m reflector TRAPPIST 0.6 m reflector TAROT 0.3 m reflector

La Silla Observatory is an observatory in Chile with eighteen telescopes that study the stars. The observatory is one of the biggest in the Southern Hemisphere. La Silla is a 2,400 meter high mountain that is found in the far southern part of the Atacama Desert. It can be found about 160 kilometers north of La Serena, 27 kilometers south of the Las Campanas Observatory, and about 100 kilometers north of the Cerro Tololo Observatory.

Related pages

• Very Large Telescope

Images for kids

• 

  ESO 3.6 m Telescope.

• 

  The NTT telescope.

• 

  The MPG/ESO, ESO Schmidt, NTT, and ESO 3.6 telescopes (left to right).

• 

  The delicate central spiral symbolizes a serpent while the rest of the space is taken up by strange little figures, together with some simple geometric motifs and quadrupeds.

• 

  Stars rotate around the southern celestial pole during a night at La Silla

• 

  Jupiter (top), Venus (left), and Mercury (right) nearly align themselves in the sky.

• 

  Ramps lead to the NTT. The Euler Telescope is to the right. (Seen from the ESO 3.6 Telescope.)

• 

  Morning Light Over La Silla.

• 

  Telescope Domes clustered at La Silla

• 

  La Silla Observatory at sunset

• 

  La Silla Observatory blanketed in snow as the Sun sets.

• 

  La Silla Observatory during daytime

• 

  This remarkable photo shows the ESO La Silla observatory in the foreground with the planets Venus and Jupiter low in the sky and the Milky Way drifting behind them.

• 

  This picture shows two of the three new ExTrA telescopes hosted at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Situated over 2000 meters above sea level, these telescopes scour the skies for Earth-sized worlds around M class stars, which are stars smaller than the Sun.

• 

  Panorama of La Silla at sunset with the ESO 3.6 m Telescope in the center and the decommissioned Swedish radio telescope in the foreground

See also

In Spanish: Observatorio de La Silla para niños