A stream of stars over Paranal

The sky over Paranal Observatory in northern Chile is a real treat for ESO's Photo Ambassadors, who are constantly experimenting with new techniques to obtain even more striking views of the unique, arid landscape and state-of-the-art facilities.

On this occasion, Gianluca Lombardi has combined many long-exposure images to get this stunning result — the Very Large Telescope (VLT) and its Auxiliary Telescopes, their motion appearing as blurred flickers beneath a stream of stars, while the apparent motion of the stars across the sky has left smeared trails that are captured on camera as the Earth rotates.

The VLT is ESO's flagship facility. It is of the most productive telescopes in the world, and the most advanced optical instrument ever made.

Credit:

ESO/G. Lombardi

About the Image

Id:potw1421a
Type:Photographic
Release date:26 May 2014, 10:00
Size:5184 x 3456 px

About the Object

Name:Star Trails, Very Large Telescope
Type:Unspecified : Sky Phenomenon : Night Sky : Trail
Category:Paranal
Stars

Image Formats

Large JPEG
3.5 MB
Screensize JPEG
201.4 KB

Zoomable


Wallpapers

1024x768
266.9 KB
1280x1024
418.9 KB
1600x1200
585.2 KB
1920x1200
688.4 KB
2048x1536
894.1 KB