June — Pillar of sunlight over ALMA

This picture shows the grand skies of the Chajnantor plateau in the Chilean Atacama desert. The rare sight of clouds in this typically dry and arid region creates a dramatic display of reds and blues, as well as a sun pillar –– an optical phenomenon caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere –– that emanates from the Sun in line with a telescope. This large antenna is a part of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), which is co-owned by ESO.

The original image can be downloaded in high resolution on https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw2305a/