VLT shows off the night sky

This spectacular image by ESO Photo Ambassador, Babak Tafreshi shows ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in action, showing off some of the most wonderful objects in the night sky among a mix of colour.

To the left, Orion with its prominent belt and nebula, Taurus (the Bull) with the red eye of Aldebaran and the Pleiades star cluster. To the right, the Small and Large Magellanic clouds.

Yepun (Unit Telescope 4) can be seen to fire its laser to make use of its adaptive optics.