A night begins at the Cerro Paranal Observatory in the barren Atacama Desert. An astronomer drives the road to the observatory. Planets Venus and Mercury appear in conjunction at the horizon. On the left are two bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. Higher in the sky the Milky Way begins to appear in the fading twilight. With its dark, steady, and transparent sky, Paranal is home to some of the world's leading telescopes. Operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) the Very Large Telescope (VLT) is located on Paranal, composed of four 8-meter telescopes and smaller auxiliary telescopes.