Inside the Very Large Telescope (UT2) - Deep Sky Videos

Inside Unit Telescope 2 at the VLT.
See inside all four at this link: bit.ly/VLT_Playlist
The Very Large Telescope is at Paranal, in Chile, and run the by the European Southern Observatory.
Deep Sky Videos website: www.deepskyvideos.com/
Twitter: #!/DeepSkyVideos
Facebook: / deepskyvideos
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/68847473...
More about the astronomers in our videos: www.deepskyvideos.com/pages/co...
Video by Brady Haran

[@vectoredthrust5214]

I've only recently discovered this channel of yours, Brady. As someone who's an avid fan of Numberphile, Periodic Videos and Sixty Symbols I'd like to say thank you for creating a channel dedicated to Astronomy, but not just for me I have a young sister who's 13 years old, and she's become enamoured with Astronomy, with hopes if making it a career, I hope this channel will inspire her to that end. Books are great, but to actually see videos of these telescopes, and interviews with the Astronomers and what they do will really inspire a young child's imagination

[@anke_a]

Very cool! For my bachelor research thesis I've worked with data from UVES, FLAMES and X-Shooter, really nice to actually have a look inside the telescope where it came from :)

[@DeepSkyVideos]

Anke Arentsen great

[@CaptainSeashark]

thank you for everything brady

[@satire9298]

You got it right. It's pronounced moon (/mo͞on/), just as it's spelled.

[@CalebJohnsonlivingca]

that time lapse at the end is fantastic! I want to see more of THAT.

[@jaelito83]

I always see your videos and you have made me remeber things i studies before, keep on going! and a i love your in my country and even closer to the city of Antofagasta.

[@andrewlabat9963]

Fantastic.. I hope to visit this site one day..

[@johnh539]

Just finished watching the "sett" thank you the first full explanation I have seen. We have heard of Spectrographs ,but I would love to hear what the different wave length spectroscopies' uses are. E.G. absorption lines in U.V. Again let me say what I love about all the "Deep sky videos" is the comprehensive details that teach us why and haw we know about the Cosmos.👍👍

[@DeepSkyVideos]

loved this comment

[@imakepizzas]

Thank you Brady!

[@DeepSkyVideos]

imakepizzas you are welcome - thank you for watching!

[@patriciaholger]

wohoooo!! Chile!! I just get so excited to see my country in something astronomy-related haha

[@Pintuuuxo]

The young boys and girls from Chile may one day be the greatest astronomers. This is really technology at its best. Bring on the E-ELT. Great video. Thanks

[@smithersrob]

Do you detail anywhere or if not could you comment on how, when being used for imaging purposes they tackle the issue of field rotation given the alt-az mounting? I find it fascinating given the hours I've spent polar aligning equatorial mounts how these huge research scopes are moving back to alt-az after all this time.

[@mtsvetkov]

What's the track at the end? Also did you get any interviews with the people operating and using these beauties?

[@StarManFlorida]

Does the tertiary mirror cause any diffraction to the images as it is sticking in the main mirror's light cone ???

[@Sweenus987]

I can't imagine what goes into designing and constructing these.

[@PinkChucky15]

Very cool :-)

[@pdgiddie]

What I don't understand is that all these telescopes have just two instruments attached at the nazmyth. Could they not rotate the tertiary mirror 360° to allow more instruments to be attached? Then they'd be limited only by the physical size of the instruments.

[@MagneBugten]

I thought that one of the purposes of all of these was to focus them all at the same object so as to collect as much light and data from that object as possible. Well, i understand how that works for images, but why does this one have only spectrographs? I would imagine that they would put the same type of imaging sensor in all four, and in that way, increase the total light gathering capability of the telescope(s).

[@bjornsahlin]

So cool! Greetings from an astronomy undergrad. :- )

[@GulliNL]

If one would make a tertiary mirror that could move to any direction, would it be possible to add more and more instruments into the dome? Or is there a maximum for other reasons? Might cut down in building costs if you could fit for instance 12 instuments into one dome, in stead of building 4 domes with 3 instruments each.

[@Starblind11]

But then you wouldn't be able to observe four things simultaneously, making the queue times much longer.

[@imadgibbs9063]

Brady, do you know what equipment I would need to start observing the sun?I use a 5.1" reflecting SkyWatcher telescope, incase that's relevant for whatever reason. I remember in your Solar Eclipse video (in china), one of your colleagues, the one who moved to Australia, I forget her name.. Anyway.. she talks about how once you've sent a b/w photo film to be developed, it comes back with a silver coating, which absorbs a lot of the damaging wavelengths. Would placing that over my lens, actually make my scope safe to observe the sun with? Also what sort of equipment would make for the best viewing, ie special solar lenses and stuff. Hope to hear back, cheers

[@imadgibbs9063]

Nice video, by the way :) Maybe we could get a tour of the Keck Telescope in Hawaii? Totally not suggesting that so you have an excuse to go chill out in Hawaii..

[@JubilantJerry]

About the filter, I say don't take the risk. I don't know about b/w films, but I know most films, even though they're almost completely opaque in visible light, lets infrared light pass easily, and that will cause blindness even though you can't see the light. There are specialized silver-colored filters to be put in front of the aperture - these are safe for solar observation and are quite affordable. Avoid something you screw into the eyepiece, they can burn up as the telescope focuses the sun's radiation directly onto them.

[@govindschavan]

AFAIK, images of the sun are better seen indirectly, like projecting them on a piece of paper and then observing the image. You would need a filter on your telescope (not on your eyepiece, unless you want to damage your telescope). The filter essentially reflects off a majority of the light from the sun.

[@CaptTerrific]

You lucky dog, you!

[@DeepSkyVideos]

Higgins2001 yes, will grant that... we were lucky to get to do this! And you are almost as lucky - you get to watch the best bits without all the boring travel!!!

[@TheAAMoy]

Your guide didn't want to talk on camera? She helped, should have giver her a little bit of time. AND, thanks for showing us all 4 VLTs.

[@jdgrahamo]

Thank you Brady. I wonder what Isaac Newton would make of this.

[@PeterWraaeMarino]

you would think that you would have to walk into a clean room, but no they just walk in from outside?!?! doesn't dust come on the mirrors!?!

[@CelmorSmith]

5:13 UT4 shoots a laser beam up? At least it looks like that...

[@RealHogweed]

the laser is used to calculate the distortion caused by the atmosphere, so they can adapt the optics :)

[@zenzylok]

Wonderful engineering, humans.

[@UserMum7512]

This puts my student budget telescope to shame.

[@debbieallport7019]

Inside a Very Large Telescope (UT2) -Deep Sky Videos

[@00Skyfox]

Why are hardhats always required to go inside these telescope buildings?

[@trespire]

Have you ever seen what could happen if a galaxy fell down and hit someone on the head ? It's not a pretty picture !

[@kennethflorek8532]

I can think of two possible answers: 1) The same reason men have nipples. 2) A soft hat would not protect your head if you fell into the mirror. Which one do you like best?

[@00Skyfox]

Kenneth Florek Nipples.

[@Forssa1]

Didn't do a video on the laser. Disappoint.

[@Reactordrone]

3:35 kangaroo for OzPos.

[@TheHealta]

1st?

[@AravahStar]

yep! You're "1st?" and your caution was duly noted ;) nothin' worse than thinking we're first when we're not ...heheh

[@naicotennis]

1st indeed!