The new VLT (Very Large Telescope) Survey Telescope (VST) the latest addition to the four VLT unit telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) at the top of Cerro Paranal (Chile) and has got images from Messier 17 (M17), a hotbed of star formation located about 5,500 light-years away in the Sagittarius constellation and from Omega Centauri, the largest and brightest of all known globular star clusters.

The VST, the latest addition to the four VLT unit telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) is the world's largest wide-field telescope with 2.6-metre telescope and with the huge 268-megapixel camera OmegaCAM. It has been designed to map the sky both quickly and with very fine image quality.

The VST project will conduct three surveys of the southern sky over the next five years, producing images that will further research on dark matter, the invisible substance that clings to galaxies; dark energy, which is thought to drive the expansion of the Universe; and the evolution of galaxies.

This project is a joint venture between European Southern Observatory (ESO) and INAF in Naples, Italy. More specifically, INAF designed and built the telescope, and ESO was responsible for the enclosure and the civil engineering works at the site.