Mountain under the Milky Way

The 2600-metre high mountain Cerro Paranal is framed against a dark sky with the majestic arc of our galaxy the Milky Way overhead, exhibiting the excellent viewing conditions at Paranal, which enjoys about 300 clear nights per year. These viewing conditions were a major factor in the decision to build ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) here, which can be discerned sitting on top of the mountain in this image. The VLT is the world's most advanced optical instrument, and is an invaluable tool helping astronomers to study the Universe and progress our understanding of it. In this respect, it is the most productive individual ground-based facility, leading to the publication of an average of more than one peer-reviewed scientific paper per day.