Students can now walk into the world’s largest observatory in 360º in an EON-XR Platform lesson created by the University for Business and Technology, Kosovo.

Located in the commune of Taltal and at 2635 metres above sea level in the Atacama Desert of Chile, ESO’s Paranal Observatory is one of the very best astronomical observing sites in the world. It plays host to several world-class telescopes; among them are the Very Large Telescope, the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, and the VLT Survey Telescope.

The impressive battery of top-ranking instruments, coupled with the enormous light-collecting power of the VLT and what is certainly the best overall efficiency for an observatory of this size, has provided a real research bonanza of outstanding scientific results, some of which have been true breakthroughs. They include the amazing new knowledge about the Black Hole at the Galactic Centre, the first image of an exoplanet, the discovery of the most distant group of galaxies, the detection of spatially resolved emission from an Active Galactic Nucleus, the study of resolved stellar populations in nearby galaxies among others

The only way to reach Paranal Observatory from Antofagasta airport is with your own transport, but anyone can now virtually visit the Obsevatory on EON-XR.Created by the University for Business and Technology in Kosovo as part of the Self-Directed Learning Initiative designed by EON Reality, students and teachers are now creating their own immersive lessons for active and peer learning.

To explore the Paranal Observatory, the world’s largest observatory  in an immersive 360º learning experience, please click here.