The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) Project: a progress report

This is a report on the status of the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) project, a joint venture between ESO and the INAF Capodimonte Astronomical Observatory, Naples, for the design, construction, and operation at Cerro Paranal of a 2.60 m wide-field imaging facility to support VLT as well as to carry on standalone observing programs. VST is not a traditional telescope; it is rather a highly specialized instrument, and cannot be considered disjointed from its camera. This is why some information will be also provided on the status of OmegaCAM, which is however an independent activity of ESO with the homonymous Consortium. Lacking space to illustrate this text, we refer to the collection of images about VST and its camera in the original Power Point presentation of this contribution downloadable at the address: http://www.na.astro.it/oacweb/oacweb ricerca/vst site.