"A *huge* object, extremely bright, was seen taking off from the mountains behind the the European Southern Observatory telescopes at La Silla"
This is a long exposure (about 2h) of the rising moon (brightest trail). All the other colored trails result from multiple reflections in the 28mm Minolta lens that was used. The clouds at the horizon are typical for that period of the year, they always hang on the summit of the Andes. If you have a good monitor, you can also see the very sharp trails left by some stars. The reddish, lava-like zig-zag trails on the right-hand side of the foreground are left by the light of cars moving between the telescopes.
(larger jpeg, 1260k)
Fri Dec 6 17:10:02 1996
