Photo of the day: the mesmerizing arch of the Milky Way
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has presented a stunning image of the cosmic kaleidoscope – the giant arch of the Milky Way, stretching in the night sky over the Paranal Observatory in Chile.
Billions of stars, luminous nebulae, and other cosmic bodies are responsible for the formation of the mesmerizing arch. The photo clearly shows the play of colors – green, red and blue, as well as many of their shades.
The Very Large Telescope (VLT) towers on the Cerro Paranal mountain peak are visible under the space “rocker” in the center of the frame. The image was taken from a nearby summit on which another ESO instrument is installed – the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA).
Curiously, the Milky Way is not the only galaxy captured in this image. Two satellites of our galaxy – the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – are visible under the arch in the form of two foggy clusters of light, immersed in the greenish-reddish glow of the night sky.
