A sky full of wonders

This almost 360 degree panoramic view, we can see the beginning of the Milky Way arc lying parallel to the horizon behind the ESO-operated Very Large Telescope (VLT). To the left the Large and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies are visible as small bright patches in the sky. 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.