Chile's Atacama Desert boasts some of the darkest skies on Earth, but it's also a very seismic area. How do we protect our huge and sophisticated telescopes against earthquakes?

Follow ESO astronomer Suzanna Randall in this episode of Chasing Starlight, where she travels to Chile to show us the clever antiseismic technology that keeps our telescopes safe.

00:00 Introduction
01:01 What causes earthquakes?
02:26 The Very Large Telescope
04:43 The Extremely Large Telescope

Discover more from ESO:

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Discover the telescope that will makes us rethink our place in the cosmos:    • Night timelapse at the Extremely Lar...  

Enjoy breathtaking views of astronomical objects:    • The 1.5billionpixel Running Chicken...  

Travel to the location of astronomical objects on the night sky:    • Zooming into the BH3 black hole system  

Credit: ESO

Directed by: Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser, Juan Carlos Muñoz Mateos
Hosted by: Suzanna Randall
Written by: Thomas Howarth and Pamela Freeman
Editing: Martin Kornmesser
Videography: Angelos Tsaousis, Rodrigo Soruco
Footage and photos: ESO, L. Calçada, C. Malin/ Vectorial/ J. F. Salgado/ Chepox/ G. Huedepohl (atacamaphoto.com)/ESO/Alessio Dradi (Cimolai), U.S. Navy, NASA, ESO/ACe Consortium
Music: Videvo
Animations & Infographics: Luis Calçada, Martin Kornmesser
Web and technical support: Gurvan Bazin and Raquel Yumi Shida
Scientific consultant: Paola Amico
Promotion: Oana Sandu
Filming Locations: ESO Supernova (supernova.eso.org), Cerro Armazones and Paranal in northern Chile.

#ESO #europeansouthernobservatory #astronomy #science