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2026 April 19

Eye on the Milky Way

The image shows land on the left and a star filled sky on the right. Prominent in the sky is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy. On the left is a small circular lake that reflects some of the stars in the sky. Together, the land and lake look like an eye lookout out at the Milky Way.

Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN, Dark Sky Alqueva)

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.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

NASA Official: Amber Straughn

A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,

NASA Science Activation

❤️💙💛GRACEFUL💛💙❤️