In this unique panoramic view, the band of the Milky Way stretches from one horizon to the other over the La Silla observatory in Chile, part of the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
Taken by photographer Petr Horálek, it shows a cosmic bridge connecting the ESO 3.6-metre telescope (at left) with the Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope (at right).
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds — a duo of nearby galaxies — are captured together sitting “above” the galactic plane in the upper right corner of the image. The bright splash of red in the middle of the frame is the beautiful Gum Nebula, and the particularly bright dot in the lower left of the image is the planet Jupiter.
Originally published by Cosmos as A cosmic bridge
Cosmos
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