The Milky Way, Venus, and zodiacal light above the European Southern Observatory (ESO) 3.6-metre telescope on La Silla, southern Atacama Desert, Chile. The beam of zodiacal light is at right reaching towards the Milky Way. Zodiacal light is sunlight reflected from dust particles orbiting in the plane of the solar system. From Earth it is seen as a cone of light along the ecliptic, the orbital path of the Sun, Moon and planets in the sky. In the foreground is the15-meter diameter dish antenna of SEST or the Swedish-ESO Submillimeter Telescope (now decommissioned). Left of the dish is the dome of the observatory's 3.6 meter telescope, home to the planet hunting HARPS spectrograph.