Curtain of Stars | Space Wallpaper

By Space.com Staff
published

Milky Way Over La Silla space wallpaper
A piercingly bright curtain of stars is the backdrop for this beautiful space wallpaper taken by astronomer Håkon Dahle. (Image credit: ESO/H. Dahle)

A piercingly bright curtain of stars is the backdrop for this beautiful space wallpaper taken by astronomer Håkon Dahle. The silhouetted figure in the foreground is Håkon himself surrounded by just a couple of the great dark domes that litter the mountain of ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The Milky Way is brighter in the Southern Hemisphere than in the North, because of the way our planet’s southern regions point toward the dense galactic center. One of the best aspects of La Silla Observatory is that it is far away from bright city lights, giving it some of the darkest night skies on Earth. This image was released Aug. 19, 2013.

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Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.