A Cerro Tololo Sky
Explanation:
High atop a
Chilean mountain lies one of the
premier observatories of the southern sky: the
Cerro Tololo Inter-American
Observatory (CTIO).
Pictured
above is the dome surrounding one of
the
site's best known instruments, the
4-meter
Blanco Telescope.
Far behind the dome are thousands of individual
stars and diffuse light from three galaxies: the
Small Magellanic Cloud
(upper left), the
Large Magellanic Cloud
(lower left), and our
Milky Way Galaxy (right).
Visible just to Blanco's right is the
famous
superposition of four bright stars known as the
Southern Cross.
A single 20 second exposure, this digital image was recorded with
a sensitive detector intended for astronomical imaging.
The observatory structures are lit solely by starlight.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
