A remarkable waiting room

A guide from ESO is relaxing and enjoying the beautiful and impressive sky whilst waiting for a better observing conditions. After sunset a partially cloudy sky can cause a beautiful show of colours. In the foreground of this fisheye fulldome image, some of the ESO-operated Very Large Telescope (VLT) is visible. The VLT is based at the Cerro Paranal site in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. It is the world's most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2 metres diametre each, and four smaller Auxiliary Telescopes.