The Canary Islands are located off the west coast of Africa. Although most of the islands are holiday destinations, the island of La Palma is special. A huge extinct volcano rises 2,400 metres (nearly 8,000 feet) above the Atlantic ocean, providing one of the finest sites in the world to look up at the heavens with powerful modern telescopes.

The above photograph shows the very top of the volcano with the cloud layer below the summit. To the left of the picture you can see just a few of the telescopes on the mountain. A group of telescopes like this is called an astronomical observatory. In this case, it is the Roque de Los Muchachos Observatory. There are actually around 20 astronomical telescopes on La Palma, and these are owned and operated by many different nations. However, we shall only look at the following three examples:

GranTeCan Telescope Credit: GTC Click here to find out more ...

William Herschel Telescope Credit: Nik Szymanek Click here to find out more ...

Liverpool Telescope - © ING Credit: LJMU/ARI Click here to find out more ...