The Galactic Centre above the ESO 3.6-metre telescope
{"Image ImageDescription": "The ESO 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, during observations. Across  the plan of the picture, is the Milky Way, our own galaxy, a disc-shaped  structure seen perfectly edge-on. Above the telescope\u00b4s dome, here  lighted by the Moon, and partially hidden behind dark dust clouds, is  the yellowish and prominent central bulge of the Milky Way. The whole  plan of the galaxy is populated by hundred thousand million of stars, as  well as a conspicuous amount of interstellar gas and dusts. The dust  absorbs the visible light and reemits it at longer wavelength, appearing  totally opaque at our eyes. The ancient Andean civilizations saw in  these dark lanes their animal-shaped constellations. By following the  dark lane which seems to grow from the centre of the Galaxy toward the  top, we find the reddish nebula around Antares (Alpha Scorpii). The  Galactic Centre itself lies in the constellation of Sagittarius and  reaches its maximum visibility during the austral winter season. The ESO  3.6-metre telescope, inaugurated in 1976, currently operates with the  HARPS spectrograph, the most precise exoplanet \u201chunter\u201d in the world.  Located 600 km north of Santiago, at 2400 m altitude in the outskirts of  the Chilean Atacama Desert, La Silla was first ESO site in Chile and  the largest observatory of its time. This photograph was taken by ESO Photo Ambassador Serge Brunier. Links  ESO Photo Ambassadors webpage."}