Magellanic Clouds Above the VLT Telescope

A photo composite of multiple exposures. From the photographer: “Being an astronomer for over 8 years, I have been fortunate to visit various high-altitude observatories in Nainital, Devasthal, Hanle, Okayama, Palomar, etc. But none came close to my awe-inspiring experience at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, high up in the Atacama Desert. The observatory currently houses an array of four 8.2m telescopes called the Very Large Telescope (VLT) along with four 1.8m VLT Auxiliary Telescopes and a 4m infrared survey telescope VISTA.

Travelling to the southern hemisphere for the first time, I got to observe the Magellanic Clouds, the dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, which appeared as faint, hazy clouds in the sky through my naked eye. I got to see the breathtaking Carina Nebula through the eyes of my camera, an expansive cloud of gas and dust home to several massive stars.

To top it all off, witnessing Orion flipped over was a unique perspective that could only be seen from the Southern Hemisphere, adding to the magic of the night sky at Paranal.”

Technical details: Nikon Z6 (Unmodified),  Nikkor S 20mm F1.8, 12 x  (20s, ISO 3200, 20 mm, f/2.8) (untracked), Software: Sequator, Pixinsight, Adobe Photoshop