ELT and the Milky Way

The southern winter Milky Way sprawls across this night skyscape. Looking due south, the webcam view was recorded near local midnight on March 11 in dry, dark skies over the central Chilean Atacama Desert.

Seen below the graceful arc of diffuse starlight are satellite galaxies of the mighty Milky Way, also known as the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud.

In the foreground is the site of the European Southern Observatory’s 40-metre-class Extremely Large Telescope (ELT). Under construction at the 3000 metre summit of Cerro Armazones, the ELT is on track to become planet Earth’s biggest Eye on the Sky.

Astrophotography enthusiasts prize such clear, dark views of space clouds and distant wonders.