The southern Milky Way above moonlit landscape of Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon) near San Pedro de Atacama, northern Chile, in the Atacama desert. The valley has stone and sand formations which have been carved by wind and water in an impressive range of color and texture. Being one of the driest places on earth, a prototype Mars rover was tested because of the valley's dry and forbidding terrains. In the sky bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri are at left next to the Southern Cross (Crux) and Coalsack dark nebula, followed by the red emission Carina Nebula. On the right the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds appear next to Canopus, the second brightest star in the Earth night sky. At the horizon (right) is the light pollution of the lithium mine in the Salar of Atacama, about 60km away. This salt desert contains 27% of the world's lithium reserve base. It is the world's largest active source of lithium.