Free Astronomy Magazine January-February 2026

48 JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2026 ASTRO PUBLISHING T he 4-metre Multi-Object Spec- troscopic Telescope (4MOST) successfully completed its first test observations. Installed on the Visible and Infrared Survey Tele- scope for Astronomy (VISTA), an ESO telescope in Chile, 4MOST is the largest facility of its kind to survey Thousands of eyes on the sky: 4MOST sees first light by ESO Bárbara Ferreira P erched atop a mountain adjacent to Cerro Paranal, the home of the flagship Very Large Telescope (VLT), VISTA is the largest telescope in the world de- signed to survey the sky in near-infrared light (just beyond that visible to hu- mans). The spectacular sights of the cosmos — including the notable streak of our home galaxy, the Milky Way, stretching across the top of the frame here — are more than enough to keep VISTA and its telescopic siblings busy. [ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org )]