Eyes on the Skies

Stills for the press

High-resolution images for download

	Dual telescopic mirrors of the Large Binocular Telescope Two eyes are better than one. The recently completed Large Binocular Telescope at Mount Graham International Observatory in Arizona sports two 8.4-metre mirrors on a single mount. Together, they provide the light-gathering power of an 11.8-metre mirror and — through interferometry — the resolving power of an imaginary 22.8-metre telescope. Credit: Large Binocular Telescope Corporation (United States, Italy and Germany, Marc-Andre Besel and Wiphu Rujopakarn) Download high-resolution TIF file (47.1MB)
	Artist's impression of the Galileo's famous telescopes With his small, homemade telescopes, capable of magnifying objects by a factor of 20, Galileo Galilei made some of mankind’s most astonishing discoveries. He observed stars and nebulae and studied Solar System objects like the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Venus. Although he did not invent the instrument, it was Galileo who truly made the telescope famous. Credit: ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser) Download high-resolution TIF file (33.67 MB)
	Dr. J Dr. J, aka Dr. Joe Liske, a professional astronomer from the European Southern Observatory and presented of the Eyes on the Skies documentary. Credit: IAU, ESO & ESA/Hubble Download high-resolution TIF file (2.11MB)
	Dr. J Dr. J, aka Dr. Joe Liske, a professional astronomer from the European Southern Observatory and presented of the Eyes on the Skies documentary. Credit: IAU, ESO & ESA/Hubble Download high-resolution TIF file (2.87 MB)
	The European Extremely Large Telescope Spanning a monstrous 42 metres across, the primary mirror of the proposed European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT) consists of many hundreds of individual segments. When completed in 2018, the E-ELT will be by far the largest ground-based telescope for optical and near-infrared observations. Credit: ESO Download high-resolution TIF file (33.1 MB)
	Shooting a laser at the galactic centre An orange sodium laser is aimed at the core of the Milky Way to aid adaptive optics observations made with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope. The laser creates an artificial star high in the Earth’s atmosphere. Astronomers continuously monitor the ever-changing distortion of the light of this laser guide star, which is caused by atmospheric turbulence, to correct for image blurring and to obtain the sharpest possible pictures. Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky Download high-resolution TIF file (27.1 MB)
	Screenshot 3D animation from the Eyes on the Skies documentary showing the formation of a planet. Credit: ESA/Hubble Download high-resolution TIF file (1.35 MB)
	The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope orbiting the planet Earth. Credit: NASA Download high-resolution TIF file (9.8MB)