Paranal Observatory is an astronomical observatory operated by the European Southern Observatory. It is located in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile on Cerro Paranal at 2,635 m altitude, 120 km south of Antofagasta. By total light-collecting area, it is the largest optical-infrared observatory in the Southern Hemisphere; the Very Large Telescope, the largest telescope on Paranal, is composed of four separate 8.2 m telescopes. In addition, the four main telescopes can be used for extra light gathering capacity, for interferometry. Four auxiliary telescopes of 1.8 m each are part of the VLTI to make it available when the main telescopes are being used for other projects. The site houses two survey telescopes with wide fields of view, the 4.0 m VISTA and the 2.6 m VLT Survey Telescope for surveying large areas of the sky. Two major new facilities are under construction nearby: the southern part of the Cherenkov Telescope Array gamma-ray telescope will be sited in the grounds 10 km south-east of Paranal.

From an aerial view of the Paranal Observatory, the four large units of the VLT with their four small, dome-shaped auxiliary telescopes can be seen. The Survey Telescope, VST, is adjacent to the VLT and seen in between two of its units, while VISTA is located on a secondary peak, some 1,500 m away in the background; the Very Large Telescope consists of four 8.2-metre telescopes operating in the visible and infrared. These telescopes, along with four smaller auxiliary telescopes, are combined to operate as an optical interferometer on certain nights of the year. All of the 8.2-metre telescopes have a full suite of instruments. VISTA is the Visible & Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy, a 4.0-metre telescope with a wide field of view, focusing on infrared surveys of the sky. It was built close to ESO's VLT by a consortium of 18 universities from the United Kingdom, led by Queen Mary University of London. VISTA was handed over to the European Southern Observatory in December 2009; the VLT Survey Telescope or VST is a 2.6-metre telescope with a wide field imager intended to aid the four Very Large Telescope in their scientific aims.

The Next-Generation Transit Survey is an exoplanet-survey facility located a few kilometers from the main peak. It consists of an array of twelve 0.2-meter robotic telescopes with a large field of view of 96 square degrees or several hundred times the area of the full moon. The survey aims to discover numerous super-Earths and Neptune-sized planets around nearby stars, using transit photometry to detect them. NGTS is managed by a partnership of seven academic institutions from Chile, Germany and the United Kingdom and its design is based on the SuperWASP project. Science operations began in early 2015; as well as the telescopes, control buildings and maintenance facilities, Paranal has a Residencia which provides accommodation for staff and visitors. This is located 3 km from the telescopes, it is built half into the mountain with the concrete coloured to blend into the landscape. It has a swimming pool, a restaurant and two gardens; the construction was decorated by the Chilean architect Paula Gutiérrez Erlandsen, Marchioness of la Pica.

To illustrate the isolation of the Paranal Observatory from the lights of civilization, it is located 38 kilometres in straight-line distance north of Paposo, population 259, the nearest community to the observatory. The VLT hotel, the Residencia, served as a backdrop for part of the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace; the observatory's facilities were used to stage the Pacific Alliance's fourth summit in June 2012, formally launching the organization. On 14 March 2013, Crown Prince of Denmark, accompanied by his wife, Princess Mary, visited ESO's Paranal Observatory, as part of an official visit to Chile, their tour of Paranal's astronomical facilities was led by Tim de Zeeuw. European Southern Observatory homepage Paranal Observatory homepage Visits to the Paranal Observatory NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day: Paranal Moonset Photo gallery of ESO Paranal Observatory

R v Badger, 1 S. C. R. 771 is a leading Supreme Court of Canada decision on the scope of aboriginal treaty rights. The Court set out a number of principles regarding the interpretation of treaties between the Crown and aboriginal peoples in Canada. Wayne Badger, Leroy Kiyawasew, Ernest Ominayak were Cree and status Indians under the Treaty No. 8. They were each caught hunting for food on private land. Badger was caught near a farm house, Kiyawasew was caught in a farmer's field, while Ominayak was caught in a field of Muskeg, they were charged under the Wildlife Act. At trial the three accused argued that they were entitled to hunt as part of their aboriginal treaty rights; the Crown argued that the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement of 1930 had extinguished the rights granted by Treaty No. 8. The accused were convicted and the convictions were upheld on appeal; the issues before the Supreme Court were: whether status Indians under Treaty No. 8 have the right to hunt for food on owned land which lies within the territory surrendered under that Treaty.

Whether the hunting rights set out in Treaty No. 8 have been extinguished or modified by the Natural Resources Transfer Agreement. The extent, if any, that sections 26 and 27 of the Wildlife Act applied to the accused. Justice Cory, writing for the majority, held that the appeals of Badger and Kiyawasew should be dismissed but Ominayak's appeal should be allowed and a new trial should be directed; the Treaty, Cory found, granted the right to "pursue their usual vocations of hunting and fishing", limited by geography and the right of the government to conserve Wildlife. Cory gave several principles in interpreting treaties: a treaty represents an exchange of solemn promises between the Crown and the various Indian nations; the honour of the Crown is always at stake. Any ambiguities or doubtful expressions must be resolved in favour of the Indians and any limitations restricting the rights of Indians under treaties must be narrowly construed; the onus of establishing strict proof of extinguishment of a treaty or aboriginal right lies upon the Crown.

Cory turned to the issue of the NRTA. He found; when interpreting any treaties, they must be given their natural meaning as understood by the Indians at the time that they were signed. The limitation of the hunting treaty should be based on incompatible land use. On this basis, the appeals for Badger and Kiyawasew must be dismissed as they were hunting where it was visibly incompatible with the land use. Cory considered whether the Wildlife Act, which required hunting licenses, violated their aboriginal right to hunt, he found that it could not be justified under the Sparrow test. The Canadian Crown and First Nations, Inuit and Métis Canadian Aboriginal case law Numbered Treaties Indian Act Section Thirty-five of the Constitution Act, 1982 Indian Health Transfer Policy List of Supreme Court of Canada cases Full text of Supreme Court of Canada decision at LexUM and CanLII

Jordan Prentice is a Canadian actor. A self-described "person of short stature", he is known for his portrayal of Rock in American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile and Jimmy in In Bruges, for appearing in the music video for Vengaboys' party anthem "Shalala Lala", he was one of the actors to play Howard the Duck. He is the lead actor in Toronto Playwright, Eric Woolfe's Revenger's Medicine Show, in development by Eldritch Theatre. Prentice developed an interest in acting when he was a child and was a member of the Young Players from the Drama Program, Department of English at the University of Western Ontario, he attended École Alexandra, the Module scolaire de langue française at London Central Secondary School and Dalhousie University. He was 13. Prentice appeared on British TV in a series of nine commercials for British radio station Absolute Radio, with DJ Christian O'Connell, as Doug, the station's new music-mad security guard with attitude, he resides in Montreal, Quebec. Jordan Prentice on IMDb Jordan Prentice at Northernstars.ca