Andes Milky Way

The Milky Way rises majestically above the Chilean Atacama Andes in the San Pedro de Atacama region. Most of the peaks visible in the landscape have altitudes above 5000m and even 6000m for few of them. Nearly in the middle of the image are the Chajnantor mountain (5639 m) and plateau (5300 m) where the ALMA radio telescope project is being built. In this image the photographer has chosen the date and time at which the picture was taken in order to have the landscape and observer lit up correctly by the natural moon light. The camera was mounted on an equatorial mount to track the stars, explaining why the landscape and observer are slightly blurred.