The Milky Way over ESO Auxiliary Telescope in Chile's Atacama Desert
The setting of this picture is the European Southern Observatory’s flagship facility—the Paranal Observatory, located in the Chilean Atacama Desert. One of the Auxiliary Telescopes of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) is visible with its spherical dome closed.
Description: The image shows an auxiliary telescope at the center of the picture. Blue, pink, and white stars are scattered across the image, with dark clouds stretching across the elongated accumulation of stars, creating an awe-inspiring scene.
In ancient times, people were not too sure what the Milky Way was. They named it after its appearance—a milky band in the night sky. It was Galileo Galilei that first pointed a self-built small telescope at that structure. He realized that the Milky Way was formed of countless stars—a key discovery!
Our understanding of the Milky Way has advanced considerably: around 100 to 400 billion stars of all ages, masses and colors belong to it. Located in a spiral arm, 25,000 light years away from the center, is our Sun, making the Milky Way our home galaxy. From this position, we can see the galactic center very well, as shown in this picture taken by Chilean astrophotographer Alexis Trigo. Large lanes of dark clouds are visible. These dark nebulae block the light from the stars behind them, creating the illusion of fewer stars in that region.
Viewing the glistening band of the Milky Way has been an incredible experience for ages. We have learned a lot about our home galaxy since then, but there is still so much more to uncover. It remains to be seen what new discoveries ESO’s upcoming Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) will bring us.
Release Date: Feb. 16, 2026
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