Planets and two dwarf galaxies share the same field of view

Mar 31, 2014 12:54 GMT  ·  By
Annotated ESO Ultra HD Expedition image taken from the VLT, at the Paranal Observatory, in Chile
   Annotated ESO Ultra HD Expedition image taken from the VLT, at the Paranal Observatory, in Chile

Astronomers with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have just released this impressive image of the night sky taken at the Cerro Paranal Observatory, in the Chilean Andes. The view represents the center of the Milky Way as it appears when viewed through the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT). Many major features have been annotated for ease of reference. 

To the left of the image, the two smudges represent the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud, abbreviated LMC and SMC, respectively, which are two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. It is entirely possible that our galaxy will eat its companions and incorporate their material into its own at some point.

The core of the Milky Way takes center stage in this image. Below it are Antares – one of the largest known stars in the Universe – and Saturn, the second-largest planet in our solar system. The upper part of the image is occupied by the Moon and by Venus. Two other very large stars, Vega and Altair, lie towards the upper right and right part of the image, respectively.

The buildings visible in this image are the four main Unit Telescopes of the VLT, which are accompanied by one of the Auxiliary Telescopes at the observatory and by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST). This image is the first produced by the ESO Ultra HD Expedition, which seeks to document similar views of the night sky from all three of ESO's observatories in the Chilean Andes.