Autumn Stars and Observatory

The autumn Milky Way and the zodiacal light above the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory on the top of La Palma, 2400 meters above see level. The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC), operated by Spain, appears in the foreground. It is one of the world’s largest telescopes with the aperture of 10.4 m. The zodiacal light (reflected sunlight from dust in the Solar System plane) appears prominently after dusk (left). Click on the second photo to see a slightly closer view of this scene where the Andromeda Galaxy and the Double Star Cluster in Perseus are easy to recognize in the wide-angle view.