14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) have just released the third image collected by their three Photo Ambassadors. The photographers are currently traveling between ESO sites in South America, collecting beautiful images of our galaxy and various telescopes as part of the Ultra HD Expedition.
The ESO group is made up of Photo Ambassadors Yuri Beletsky, Christoph Malin, and Babak Tafreshi, and videographer Herbert Zodet. All have access to state-of-the-art high-definition equipment that can be used to snap unbelievably detailed images of the night sky. The latest image in their series of four was collected at the La Silla Observatory, in the Chilean Andes.
Taking center stage is the New Technology Telescope (NTT) at La Silla, a facility that was widely considered to be a significant technological breakthrough when it was completed, back in 1989. The NTT is a 3.58-meter (11.74-foot) alt-azimuth-mounted telescope located roughly 2,400 meters (some 7,900 feet) above sea level, in the driest non-arctic desert in the world.
Spanning the night sky above the NTT is the core of the Milky Way, which can usually be observed in great detail from the Atacama Desert. The regions at the very core of our galaxy cannot be discerned in optical wavelengths, since they are obscured by massive plumes of dust and gas. Only infrared telescopes can pierce these veils, revealing the stars, nebulae, and black holes beyond.