14 DAY TRIAL // What a creative use for a common fisheye camera lens. The amazing image above, which you should definitely click to enlarge, was collected by European Southern Observatory (ESO) photo ambassador Gabriel Brammer. It showcases the core of our galaxy, the Milky Way, while the surrounding landscape on the ground is lit up by moonlight.
The photo was taken at the ESO Paranal Observatory, in Chile, which is home to the Very Large Telescope, among other telescopes. The VLT features four main mirrors, all seen in this picture, as well as four tracking devices, some of which also appear here.
Each of the four Unit Telescopes has a diameter of 8.2 meters (27 feet), while the movable Auxiliary Telescopes have a diameter of 1.8-meters (6 feet) each. Light from all these assets is combined into a single view, through a process called optical interferometry, which produces accurate and highly detailed images of the night sky.
Even though the Moon appears to be as bright as the Sun in this image, this is due to the long exposure time Brammer needed to capture details of the galactic core. The Chilean Andes provide the perfect setting for observing the night sky, since they contain some of the driest, most arid places on Earth.