ESO Ultra HD Expedition Begins

ESO’s Ultra HD Expedition team have begun their journey to capture ESO’s three unique observing sites in Chile in all their grandeur. ESO’s videographer Herbert Zodet and three ESO Photo Ambassadors, Yuri Beletsky, Christoph Malin and Babak Tafreshi are equipped with powerful Ultra HD tools [1] supplied by the technology’s front runners [2]. The expedition provides an opportunity to demonstrate this state-of-the-art technology and to deliver crisp, breathtaking Ultra HD footage — bringing the Universe closer than ever before.

The team continues to share their personal accounts of their 17-day adventure on the ESO Ultra HD Expedition blog and you can follow their travels through the journey schedule as the expedition unfolds.

The team have now reached ESO’s Paranal Observatory in northern Chile, home to the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) — ESO’s flagship facility for European ground-based astronomy. Next, they will drive to ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array — a huge new facility at 5000 metres above sea level on the Chajnantor Plateau, dedicated to studying the cool Universe. Finally, the team will head to La Silla, ESO’s first observatory — home to the ESO 3.6-metre telescope and the 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope.

A wide range of content will be captured including time-lapses, stills, videos and panoramas in Ultra HD quality — as well as time-lapses in planetarium fulldome format. The almost perfect atmospheric conditions in each of the three ESO sites provide crystal-clear views of the night sky, further enhancing this visually stunning production.

Notes

[1] The expedition equipment includes: Vixen Optics Polarie Star Tracker, Canon EOS-1D C and 6D cameras, Stage One Dolly and eMotimo TB3 3-axis motion control camera robot, Angelbird SSD2go disks, LRTimelapse software. Peli Storm Cases, 4K PC workstations from Magic Multimedia, Novoflex QuadroPod system, Intecro batteries and Granite Bay Software.

[2] The ESO Ultra HD Expedition is supported by the following technology partners: Canon, Kids of All Ages, Novoflex, Angelbird, Sharp, Vixen, eMotimo, Peli, Magic Multi Media, LRTimelapse, Intecro and Granite Bay Software.

More Information

You can follow the ESO Ultra HD expedition on Twitter @ESO and under the hashtag #ESOultraHD

The ESO Ultra HD Expedition is supported by the following technology partners: Canon, Kids of All Ages, Novoflex, Angelbird, Sharp, Vixen, eMotimo, Peli, Magic Multi Media, LRTimelapse, Intecro and Granite Bay Software.