The southern hemisphere view of the Milky Way over La Silla Observatory, operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). It sits at about 2400 metres above sea level on the outskirts of the Chilean Atacama Desert. La Silla was ESO’s first observatory, inaugurated in 1969. The closer dome is the 1.5 meter Danish National Telescope. The Milky Way appears from the Southern Cross and bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri (left) to the bright galactic central bulge in constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius. The faint glow of the Zodiacal Light appears at top. Mars is next to the Danish telescope, and the brightest object in this view. The green and red light near the horizon is airglow; natural emission of the Earth upper atmosphere.