24th October - life Jim, but not as we know it! / by David Harrison

As we hurtled along the B-710 north of Taltal at warp speed a Klingon force dragged us off road along a twisted track to high altitude where we discovered the ESO Paranal Observatory. They say it's an Optical Interferometer - but we know it's scouring the universe for Alien life forms!

The European Southern Observatory in northern Chile hosts 4 VLTs (Very Large Telescopes) and is funded by a consortium of 16 European countries.  ESO employs 730 staff and receives annual member state contributions of 131 million Euros - paint that on the side of a bus Boris!