The Milky Way above Cerro Paranal

The Milky Way in the constellations Scorpius and Sagittarius above the Cerro Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert, Chile. The bright red-orange star Antares at the Scorpion’s heart appears in the upper middle. At 2,635 metres (8,645 ft) from sea level, with its dark and transparent sky, Paranal is home to the Very Large Telescope (VLT), operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It is composed of four 8-metre telescopes and several 1-meter auxiliary telescopes (pictured here) which are important part of the VLT interferometer.

Click on the second photo to see a closer view of this central bulge region of the Milky Way, the downtown galaxy. The Lagoon Nebula (M8) is on the lower left, next to the Large Sagittarius Star Cloud, the brighter patch in the Milky Way which points almost toward the galactic center. © Babak Tafreshi