The Gatekeeper

Pictured here in beautiful, warm tones of orange, red, and gold as the Sun sets over the Atacama Desert, is Licancabur. Licancabur is one of the great gatekeepers of ESO’s Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The volcano, seen here in the foreground, sits at an altitude of 5920 metres and forms part of a chain of border mountains that separate Chile from its neighbour Bolivia. It also hosts a large crater at its summit that is filled with water — Licancabur Lake, one of the highest lakes in the world. In the background is the volcano Juriques. Lincancabur and Juriques can both be seen from Chajnantor, the 5000-metre-high plateau that is home to ALMA.