Hot on the heels of Foxtel's announcement that it was bringing the 'Despicable Me' movie in 3D to Foxtel suscribers with a 3DTV comes news of the next piece of 3D content that will eventually make up an entire universe of stuff to see in 3D.

Courtesy of the National Geographic Channel, Foxtel will air NatGeo's award winning documentary 'The Eye 3D' on Tuesday the 22nd of February at 9.30pm, on Foxtel's 3D Channel (Channel 201), in what Foxtel says is 'the first 3D documentary to be screened on Australian television'. 

To take part in the 3D extravaganza, you'll need a Foxtel iQHD set-top box (or iQ2, it's the same thing), a 3D capable TV, and you'll need to have subscribed to the HD Sports Package - even though NatGeo's new 3D documentary has about as much to do with sports as Foxtel has to do with contributing to NASA's future mission to Mars.

However, that's the way those whacky subscription TV packages go - if you want to see a 3D documentary about space and telescopes, you'll need an HD Sports Package.

So, what exactly is The Eye 3D going to be about?

Well, Foxtel explains that The Eye 3D, (which has nothing to do with cyclonic eyes), instead focuses on 'the most powerful optical telescope in the world: the Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), situated on the summit of Cerro Paranal in Chile's Atacama Desert.'

We'll learn that the VLT is the 'sharpest eye of humankind', and that it even 'outperforms even the Hubble Space Telescope in some wavelengths. One of the most fascinating scientific instruments ever built, it has found its home in one of the most exciting yet arid places in the world.'

To view the program, you'll need to tune into the Foxtel 3D Channel and set the mode on your 3D capable TV to 'Side-by-Side' 3D mode and use the 3D glasses supplied with your 3D TV.

So, what if you don't have a 3D TV, and what else is The Eye about? Please cast your eye over to page two!

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If you're not blessed with 3DTV technology as yet, fear not - the program will also air simultaneously on Nat Geo's HD Channel 236 and also in SD on Channel 610, although for some strange reason Foxtel started its paragraph on this by stating 'viewers with a 3D TV can also view the 2D version of The Eye'.

Presumably it meant to also say 'viewers without a 3DTV', but perhaps it took that for granted, although the way they said it, you have to wonder.

Foxtel also gives us some more detail about The Eye 3D and the VLT, which naturally has nothing to do with tasty BLTs.

We're told that, since the VLT went into operation last century in 1998, countless discoveries have been made with its help.

Foxtel says: 'From the observatory in the Atacama Desert astronomers detected a super massive black hole lurking in the centre of our Milky Way, with four million times as much matter as our sun.

'And they identified the furthest object ever detected by a telescope: a hyper nova, whose gamma-rays took thirteen billion years to reach the Earth. Each and every second of this unimaginably long time, the rays travelled three-hundred thousand kilometers. To go further back in time and space is hardly possible, because before that, there was no light in the universe.

'The Eye 3D will convey an intense feeling of 'being there' to viewers, taking them on virtual tours inside the huge telescope domes or out walking in the desert. Accompanying the stunning views of the telescopes are explanations of how such a technological masterpiece functions.

'The lives of the astronomers, engineers, physicists and technicians at this unique outpost - 120 kilometers away from any human settlement but closer to the stars than any other place on earth - are also showcased.'

So, whether you've got a 3DTV or not, Foxtel has some content it would certainly like you to cast your eye over, whether in 3D, 2D, HD or SD.

if you've got a Foxtel subscription, keep your eyes peeled!