The Unbearable Beauty of the Night Sky

Take a DEEP BREATH before watching this ESOCast mashup with Dr. J. The Sun is setting behind Cerro Paranal in the Chilean Atacama desert. While astronomers get ready to observe with ESO's Very Large Telescope, Nature prepares for her own grand display. As night falls over the desert, the southern sky reveals its nocturnal beauty, leaving the spectator in silent amazement. Some people, however, don't just stare at the spectacle. With great skill, they record these unique moments for everyone to see - they are the photographers of the night.

Anyone who has been up at night in a remote, high place such as at one of ESO's observatories in Chile may have been lucky enough to experience the splendid view of the myriad stars shining brightly from the heavens. It is a both a dream and a challenge for a photographer to capture an image of this incredible view. Today we will focus on three ESO staff members, who, during their free time, produce outstanding astrophotography. By publishing their results on the internet they share their enthusiasm for the astonishing wonders of the southern skies with a wider audience.

Yuri Beletsky is an ESO Fellow and astronomer at the Paranal Observatory.
When not observing with the world's most advanced telescope, the VLT, he actively lives out his passion for taking pictures of the southern sky.
"I like the night sky, I like stars and the night sky is so beautiful, you can see millions of stars and astrophotography is the best way to show the people what actually stars are, so taking this picture I share my passion with people and I am showing the sky then."

Over time, Yuri has produced many spectacular images of Paranal against the wonderful backdrop of the night sky.

A laser beam shooting out of one of the VLT _s Unit Telescopes.

The bright constellation of the Southern Cross.

The Pipe Nebula with its picturesque dust lane crossing the Milky Way.

Sunlight reflected by small particles of dust lying in between the planets causes the faint zodiacal light.

Paranal is an ideal site for astrophotographers as it offers crystal-clear, extremely dark skies with perfect weather conditions on about 320 nights per year.

Gerhard Hüdepohl, an electronic engineer at Paranal knows about the photographic benefits of the VLT _s site.

Gerhard, who is also a renowned photographer of Chile's landscape, combines the beauty of the Atacama desert with the shining Milky Way in a unique way.

"My favourite type of photography is landscape photography and in particular images of the landscape at night, showing the Milky Way in the night sky here in the Atacama desert. And here at Paranal I can have the telescopes as a nice foreground and the stars and the night sky as a background".

The bright plane of our Milky Way as it arches above the VLT. An image like this can only be obtained under top-notch stargazing conditions, such as those offered at Paranal.

Like Yuri, Gerhard has also produced a spectacular series of images showing the VLT with its laser beam and the night sky.
"I am always trying to show Paranal from new, fresh points of view, different angles, different times of the day, so I am always thinking about new ideas. So that is my plan for the future".

Astrophotography is very demanding. The photographer has to stay out in the dark and in the chill of the night for many hours. Sometimes it can take several nights of painstaking work in these tough conditions to obtain just one image and the equipment must always function flawlessly.

Stéphane Guisard is the head of the optical group at Paranal. His astrophotography benefits from his professional expertise as an optical engineer specialising in telescopes.

"I take pictures of galaxies and nebulae with a telescope, but I also like to take wide-field images of the sky with a terrestrial foreground. I like to share the beauty of the sky and the Universe with people."

This photographic mosaic of the central parts of our galactic home is just one example of Stéphane's work. Taken with an amateur telescope coupled to a CCD camera, the image combines about 1200 photos for a total exposure time of around 250 hours.

Stéphane has also produced a spectacular series of timelapse sequences at the Paranal site. Producing such sequences is quite a challenge as the images must be taken at regular intervals, and all the parameters must match perfectly to obtain the sensation of the moving firmament.

There is no doubt that Yuri, Gerhard and Stéphane will continue to produce stunning images of the starry skies above Paranal. The wonderful quality of the images is a testament to the splendour of the night sky at ESO's Paranal Observatory. By sharing their work, these three astrophotographers have brought their magnificent view of the southern sky to a wider audience.

[BangMaster]

Seeing night sky full of stars while lying down on grass on top of a mountain is on top of my bucket list

[proudkiwi]

Anyone else just lay on the ground, or in bed, staring out at the night sky marveling at all the stars and just feeling butterflies. And then the sudden realization that our world is so small, and that our struggles and all our hard working seems so insignificant in this massive universe of ours? I do. I do this like once every six months or so, I just stare out at the stars and get lost in the worlds above me, and just think of all that could be out there, all those planets, all that life force.

[rosellelapuz]

I'll probably cry if I see this. This is so beautiful 😢

[whatdidyousay]

Oh my God, that night sky, I'd pay anything to see that kind of sky.. Beautiful.

[Kyubi]

This just fills me with tears. The night Sky is truly so beautiful, it upsets me that I can't see this in New York every night.

[butterfIyy]

Our universe, and all it's *stars, galaxies, planets, and nebula's are so beautiful. I love how mysterious it is.*

[Mikelovesraves]

Can't we just switch off all the city lights for just one night per month? What if we pick a certain date so we can all enjoy the night.

With cars this will be almost impossible, but I mean, there is not that much traffic on a mid-night weekend?

If we could just come together and make this a real thing!
Just like there is this Movember. Why not "starry sky night" every 3rd sunday night of the month.

Let me know your thoughts. Lets get together and make it official.

[georgeburdine]

I personally have never seen the sky look like this, but I have been to certain deserts and really dark shore lines and it is wonderous. The sky is heavy with stars. It has an effect on your soul, I believe. The milky way is very pronounced. Very hypnotic. You don't know what you are missing.

[mici]

It breaks my heart to know that I'll probably never experience such beauty with my own eyes.

[HypnoticAbyss]

i wish we could all shut off Every light on earth so we could experience the night sky for 1 night

[R.E._Peony]

If I lived in a place like this, I don't know how I would ever sleep!

[Leelee-oqjt]

I love the night sky so much. Even if I can only see a couple stars I'm still fascinated. And it is cloudy here often so I don't see the, that much. I just live the cool night are and I'm just starring up at the sky with all the start wondering why this can't happen every night. It's just too amazing to say in words.

[smokeyjail]

As I watched this i had shivers going up my spine and tears of joy flowing from my eyes. I just want to say thank you tho the dedicated and hard working scientist, engineers, editors, and all other persons (whom I wish I could name) that worked on making this video and other videos like this one possible. Seeing this type of spectacle with my own eyes is definitely on my bucket list.

[Allinonetvz]

Just think about it space lovers ... u play interstellar background music in your headphones, laydown and watch the beautiful sky !! <3..Its a Dream come true

[davzrobaichjukes]

the music is from the album wavestar, moonwind, the track is called for the whales.

hope this helps

[scottkelly]

such a beautiful thing to see, if only I could just visit the place for just one night to see it with my own eyes. Wow

[dr.greggwareham]

Utterly, absolutely & unbelievably majestic. Thank you gentleman. Fascinating. Incredibly beautiful. God bless you 🙏

[GenusOfficial]

My god I'd love to this in real life!

[FunOrange]

it's hard to believe such an incredible sight is hiding behind the sky every night.

[umar]

I hate light pollution :(
I'll probably cry if I see this. This is so beautiful 😢