Voie Lactee au-dessus des volcans chiliens
Image Credit & Copyright:
Carlos Eduardo Fairbairn
Sometimes, the sky mimics the ground.
Taken in 2017 May from the
Atacama Desert in
Chile,
the foreground of the
featured image
encompasses the dipping edge of the
caldera of an extinct volcano.
Poetically
echoing the dip below is the arch of our
Milky Way Galaxy above.
Many famous icons dot this southern nighttime vista, including the
center of our Milky Way Galaxy on the far left,
the bright orange star Antares also on the left,
the constellation of the Southern
Cross
near the top of the arch, and the red-glowing
Gum Nebula on the far right.
Just above the horizon and splitting
two distant volcanic peaks
near the image center is the
Large Magellanic Cloud -- the largest
satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.