The European Southern Observatory has released the first picture from its newest telescope.

The 4.1-metre Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) will form part of the Paranal Observatory in northern Chile.

VISTA is one of two survey telescopes at Paranal. They are designed to image large areas of the sky quickly. Interesting details can then be investigated further with other telescopes.

“VISTA is a unique addition to ESO’s observatory on Cerro Paranal,” says Tim de Zeeuw, ESO Director General (press release). “It will play a pioneering role in surveying the southern sky at infrared wavelengths and will find many interesting targets for further study by the Very Large Telescope, ALMA and the future European Extremely Large Telescope.”

Image: the Flame Nebula, or NGC 2024, in the constellation of Orion / ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit