Atacama Drive

The southern sky is photographed in the morning twilight above a road approaching Cerro Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile. In the sky the Carina Nebula appears above the telescopes. The Southern Cross (constellation Crux) and bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri are higher up in the sky. At 2,635 meters (8,645 ft) from sea level, with its dark and transparent sky, Paranal is home to some of the world’s leading telescopes. On top is the Very Large Telescope (VLT), operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is composed of four 8-metre telescopes.