Awe-Inspiring View of the Milky Way

by Nancy Atkinson on April 6, 2011

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The Milky Way as seen near the Very Large Telescope in the Atacama Desert. Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky

The Chilean Atacama Desert boasts some of the darkest skies on Earth – which is why it is home to several telescopes, including the Very Large Telescope. This beautiful panoramic image was taken there, showing the VLT’s Unit Telescope 1, and across on the other side of the image are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds glowing brightly. Like an arch in between is plane of our Milky Way galaxy. This awe-inspiring image was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky. These photographers specialize in taking images of not only the night sky, but also the large telescopes that give us eyes to see across the great distances of our Universe.

See this ESO page for a larger version of this image.

About

Nancy Atkinson is Universe Today's Senior Editor. She also is the host of the NASA Lunar Science Institute podcast and works with the Astronomy Cast and 365 Days of Astronomy podcasts. Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador.

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