
ESO: Pointing the Laser towards the Milky Way’s Center is helping researchers better monitor the galactic core, where a central supermassive black hole, surrounded by closely orbiting stars, is swallowing gas and dust. In mid-August 2010 ESO Photo Ambassador Yuri Beletsky snapped this amazing photo at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. Photo #1 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

ALMA antennas under the Milky Way. ALMA stands for Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. It has 66 high precision antennas, which are either 39 feet (12 meters) or 22 feet (7 meters) wide. ALMA is the largest astronomical project in existence. It was an international partnership with Europe, North America, East Asia and the Republic of Chile all working together to build ALMA. Photo #2 by by ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)

ESO – Starry La Silla. The La Silla Observatory in Chile has 18 telescopes, 9 of which were built by the ESO and the ESO helps to maintain the other 9. La Silla sits upon a 7,800 foot mountain. Photo #3 by by ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)

Cactus (Echinopsis Atacamensis) under the Milky Way. Photo #4 by ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

Sunset view at Paranal with Moon, Venus. This picture shows astronomers enjoying the sunset at Paranal, on ESO’s Very Large Telescope’s platform, just before the beginning of their night-time observations. The dome of one of the VLT’s Auxiliary Telescopes is seen in the foreground. The crescent Moon and, to its left, planet Venus, make for a beautiful scenery. Photo #5 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Monuments of Science. Photo #6 by ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)

The VLT in Action. Photo #7 by ESO/S. Brunier

Starry Night at Paranal. Photo #8 by Iztok Boncina/ESO

Amazing Sight on Cerro Paranal, Home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT). Does it make you want to howl at the moon? Photo #9 by G.Gillet/ESO

The VLT’s Laser Guide Star. Photo #10 by G. Hüdepohl/ESO (www.atacamaphoto.com)

Starlight Shines Brightly Above Paranal. Photo #11 by ESO/José Francisco Salgado (josefrancisco.org)

The 2010 Perseids over the VLT. Photo #12 by ESO/S. Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

ALMA Prototype-Antennas at the ALMA Test Facility. Photo #13 by ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

Starry Night at Cerro Armazones. Photo #14 by ESO/S. Brunier

Celestial Tic-Tac-Toe – Mercury, Venus and the Moon Align. Photo #15 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Trailing stars above Paranal. Photo #16 by ESO/Stéphane Guisard (www.eso.org/~sguisard)

Exoplanet Hunters at La Silla. Photo #17 by Iztok Boncina/ESO

The Milky Way over Cerro Armazones. Photo #18 by ESO/S. Brunier

Orion above the VLT. Photo #19 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Straight to the Milky Way’s Heart. Photo #20 by G. Hüdepohl/ESO (www.atacamaphoto.com)

“Paranal Residencia” – At the Paranal camp, this is the residence at night. Photo #21 by ESO/H. Heyer

Telescope Domes Clustered at La Silla. Photo #22 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Celestial Conjunction at Paranal. The ESO notes, “the Moon shines along with two bright companions: already aloft in the heavens and glowing in the centre of the image is Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbour, and, to its right, the giant, though more distant planet, Jupiter. Such apparent celestial near misses—although the heavenly bodies are actually tens to hundreds of millions of kilometres apart—are called conjunctions. Still other sights delight this night view at Paranal : the radiant, reddish plane of the Milky Way, smouldering on the horizon, and an 8.2-metre VLT Unit Telescope, along with a 1.8-metre Auxiliary Telescope, standing firmly on the ground.” Photo #23 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Paranal After Sunset. Photo #24 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Beautiful Sky over Paranal. Photo #25 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Milky Way above Paranal. Photo #26 by S. Deiries/ESO

The Long and Winding Road which leads to the Paranal camp. Photo #27 by José Francisco Salgado(josefrancisco.org)/ESO

Rare 360-degree Panorama of the Southern Sky. Photo #28 by ESO/H.H. Heyer

The ESO described this scene as the “1.2-m Swiss Telescope stands in front of ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope in this image from the La Silla observing site. 2400 metres above sea level in the southern part of the Atacama desert of Chile, La Silla was ESO’s first observation site. Along with the 3.6-metre telescope, La Silla hosts the New Technology Telescope (NTT) and the 2.2-m Max-Planck-ESO telescope. Photo #29 by Iztok Boncina/ESO

The Milky Way Shines on Paranal. Photo #30 by B. Fugate (FASORtronics)/ESO

VLT Telescopes at Paranal. Photo #31 by Iztok Boncina/ESO

Lying down on the VLT platform. Photo #32 by G. Hüdepohl/ESO (www.atacamaphoto.com)

Paranal Starry Night. Photo #33 by Gianluca Lombardi/ESO

Zodiacal Light over La Silla. Photo #34 by ESO/Y. Beletsky

Shooting a Laser at the Galactic Center. Photo #35 by Y. Beletsky/ESO
amazing pictures!! just look at Gods creation!
Yeah …how about we leave the whole ‘God’ nonsense out of it.
Just appreciate the magnificence of the cosmos in these wonderful photographs, without invoking fairies!
Why would the mention of God upset you? You have your beliefs, others have theirs. It’s called respect.
If you thought she was out of line by mentioning God, you were out of line with your line about fairies.
Try taking the high road.
If you are going to give out advice, try following it as well.
God? What’s that myth got to do with the Milky Way?
God is not a myth he created everything in this world and designed that starry night you enjoy so much. He brought you into this world too. Gosh and if God is such a myth why should we believe in the stupid Big Bang theory. It absolutely makes no sense. So the next time you decide to call God a myth think about a better idea of how this world was created. Then get it published and maybe(probably not) I’ll believe you.
I got a beeter idea how the world was created. It’s called evolution. But even that is just an idea. No matter what anyone says, be it a scientist or a God believer, know one really knows how it all started. Even the big bang theory is just a guess really. No one alive today was there how many billions of years ago is apparently all happened so I find it very hard to believe any of it.
I dunno about anyone else but I’m a strong believer in having hard facts about something. And what we have about how this universe was created, whether it be by “God” or the Big bang, is to me, just a guessing game with no real hard facts with any real proof that it did happen from a particular creator.
There are definitely hard facts showing there was a Big Bang. You should read some books about it. It absolutely makes sense and it is more based on observations than this “God” thing. Where is she/he/it and where should she/he/it come from? Also, believing in only one “God” is more stupid than believing in Greek mythology. The Greeks at least tried to explain where the “Gods” came from.
dude do not be blinded by religion there is a perfectly good real reason why the universe is here
The human being is the creation of ALLAH. The universe is also created by ALLAH. The best way to live on planet is to research how big this universe is and how can man utilise it for the benifit of humanity.
Akhlaq
Says Osama Bin Laden – get lost loser.
allah was a dirty old pedo!!
I think you mean Mohammad. Allah is the creator of the universe/humanity and Mohammad is the prophet. If you’re going to be an ignoramous at least get your names right! (Atheist here, btw, just hate seeing multiple layers of wrong.)
But why didn’t she create you a clear mind?
I could look up to the sky and stare at that all night long.
where is this gorgeous place i wann live there 😀
WOW eyes wide open
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please read Al-Qur’an,, you will find the clue
Dreamy. Fabulous. Makes you want to be there and see these wondrous sights.
The starry night is just a glimpse of what the universe holds for us to capture.
The WOW facture is really BIG on these shots, and I agree I want to live there too. I was born too soon because I’d love to be traveling out there exploring. And this is just a very small fraction of the universe, it’s unimaginable just how big it all is!!
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