A cosmic backdrop

The entire arc of Milky Way, full of gas and dust, star clusters and emission nebulae, is a luminous background for the ESO-operated Very Large Telescope (VLT). The VLT is based at the Cerro Paranal site in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, and it houses four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal and Yepun, shown here lined up in front of a stunning starry backdrop.