Southern Sky and Desert Landscape

The Milky Way from Orion (top) to the Southern Cross (at the horizon) appears over cacti in the Atacama Desert, Chile. The two brightest points in the image are the two brightest stars in our night sky: Sirius and Canopus. The two patches at the lower right are the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, located near the south celestial pole.