Chile’s night skies in the Atacama desert

by astro_pettit

5 Comments

  1. Night sky at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, with Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, Coal Sack Nebula, Starlink satellites, green-orange airglow from aurora activity, road lights leading to VLT, and the observatory’s sodium laser to correct for atmospheric distortion. So much to see!

    Nikon Z9, Sigma 15mm f1.4 fisheye lens, 20 sec, f1.4, ISO 3200, adj Photoshop levels, lens correction, brightness, Jan 12, 2026.

    More space photos can be found on my [twitter](https://x.com/astro_Pettit) and [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/astro_pettit/), astro_pettit

  2. But… but… I thought all the really cool pictures only came from orbit?

    Seriously nice catch.