Within Reach

The rocky, barren landscape below evokes an image of an alien world, perfectly complementing the shimmering cosmic display occurring above. The main feature is our beautiful home galaxy, the Milky Way, arching across the Chilean night sky and framing the awestruck observer on the left. The light from billions of stars combines to create the Milky Way’s glow, with huge clouds of dark dust blocking the light here and there and creating the dark and mottled pattern we observe. A natural effect known as airglow is responsible for the swathes of green and orange light that appear to be emanating from the horizon. A human on left metaphorically uses the Milky Way as a bridge to his dream – to be closer to the Universe as the other end of the “bridge” reached the distant ESO Paranal Observatory.

Used Canon 6D Baader IR modified, Samyang 24 mm, f2.8, ISO 10000, 39×15 seconds panorama from a tripod.