The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is a telescope operated by the European Southern Observatory

European Southern Observatory

The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental research organisation for astronomy, supported by fifteen countries...

 on Cerro Paranal

Cerro Paranal

Cerro Paranal , also known as Paranal Mountain is a mountain in the Atacama desert of northern Chile that is home to the Paranal Observatory. It is famous for hosting the Very Large Telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope. It is located 120 km west of Antofagasta and 80 km north of Taltal,...

 in the Atacama Desert

Atacama Desert

The Atacama Desert is a plateau in South America, covering a strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. It is, according to NASA, National Geographic and many other publications, the driest desert in the world...

 of northern Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

. The VLT consists of four individual telescopes, each with a primary mirror

Primary mirror

A primary mirror is the principal light-gathering surface of a reflecting telescope.-Description:The primary mirror of a reflecting telescope is a spherical or parabolic shaped disks of polished reflective metal , or in later telescopes, glass or other material coated with a reflective layer...

 8.2m across, which are generally used separately but can be used together to achieve very high spatial resolution. The four separate optical telescope

Optical telescope

An optical telescope is a telescope which is used to gather and focus light mainly from the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum for directly viewing a magnified image for making a photograph, or collecting data through electronic image sensors....

s are known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun, which are all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language.