Pink sky over the mountain

The sky glows a soft pink as the sun approaches the horizon at Cerro Paranal, a 2600-metre high mountain south of Antofagasta, Chile. This is the location of ESO's VLT, the world's most advanced optical instrument, which is well equipped to make the most of the 300 clear nights here. In the foreground to the left, the soft light falls on one of the VLT's four Auxiliary Telescopes, which are dedicated to interferometry and which help to sharpen the vision of the telescope.