European Southern Observatory
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1962 and supported by 16 member states and host country Chile. ESO designs, builds, and operates some of the world's most advanced ground-based astronomical observatories—such as La Silla, Paranal (home to the Very Large Telescope and other survey instruments), and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)—and is currently constructing the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).
Source: eso.org
APODs including "European Southern Observatory"
NGC 2997 from VLT
10/03/1999
Add another 8-meter telescope to the list of modern optical telescope giants. Kueyen achieved a first-light photograph of a bright star on March 1, ahead of schedule. The above picture of spiral galaxy NGC 2997 was taken with Antu, the first of the four planned Very Large Telscopes (VLTs) being built in Chile for the European Southern Observatory. NGC 2997 is a thin spiral galaxy tilted about 45 degrees with a bright compact nucleus and prominent lanes of dark dust.