Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2026 April 19
Explanation:
Have you ever had
stars in your eyes?
It appears that the eye on the left does, and moreover, it appears to be gazing at even more stars.
The
featured 27-frame mosaic was taken in 2019 from
Ojas de Salar in the
Atacama Desert of
Chile.
The eye is actually a small
lagoon captured reflecting the
dark night sky
as the Milky Way Galaxy arched overhead.
The seemingly smooth band of the
Milky Way is really composed of billions of stars,
but decorated with filaments of light-absorbing dust and
red-glowing nebulas.
Additionally, both
Jupiter
(slightly left the galactic arch) and
Saturn
(slightly to the right) are visible.
The lights of small towns dot the
unusual vertical horizon.
The rocky terrain around the
lagoon appears to some more like the surface of
Mars than our
Earth.