The European Southern Observatory reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

European Southern Observatory

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) is an international astronomical organisation, composed and supported by ten countries from the European Union and created in 1962. It is famous for discovering the current farthest galaxy ever seen by humans, the Abell 1835 IR1916 galaxy.

Most of its observation facilities are located in Chile (hence the name "Southern"), and the headquarters are located in Garching near Munich, Germany. ESO operates two major observatories in the Atacama desert, Chile:

• The La Silla Observatory
• The Paranal Observatory, which includes the Very Large Telescope.

One of the most ambitious ESO projects is the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope (OWL). If built, it will be the largest telescope in the world.

Member countries:

• Belgium
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Portugal
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• United Kingdom

External links

• ESO: http://www.eso.org
• Very Large Telescope
• La Silla Observatory

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