Milky Way, Antu, Kuyen

The central region of the Milky Way in the backdrop of VLT telescopes Antu (UT1) and Kueyen (UT2) on Paranal Observatory. In Mapuche language, Antu means “The Sun” and Kueyen “The Moon”, two names that are matching perfectly with the sunny appearance of this bright moonset, reflected from the floor of the Paranal platform.

The Very Large Telescope (VLT) is an array of optical telescopes operated by ESO, the European Southern Observatory, on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of Chile. It consist of four telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter, which are generally used separately but can be used together to achieve very high angular resolution.