Zodiacal Light at Paranal

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This image shows with great clarity the amazing early morning sky over Paranal, the home of ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. The wonderful landscape of the Milky Way hangs in all its glory above three of the four 1.8-metre VLT Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs). They observe simultaneously, using interferometry to get a vision as sharp as a telescope with a diameter equal to the largest distance between the telescopes. In this particular case, the distance is 48 metres. Because the larger 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of the VLT are usually used individually, the four ATs have been added to the system to make full use of the interferometric laboratory. Facing east, this remarkable photo shows the constellations Ophiuchus (the Snake Hholder), Sagittarius (the Archer), Scorpius (the Scorpion), and Triangulum Australe (the Southern Triangle). The Centre of the Milky Way is just below the centre of the image.
Credit: ESO/Y. Beletsky

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