Apod 1.4

Milky Way Above Atacama Salt Lagoon

Centered above the salty lagoon Laguna Cejar, located in Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile, is a menagerie of objects to fill the astronomer's eye. Besides the extensive amount of stars that can be seen, the observer can spot both the Large and Small Magellanic clouds. These groupings of stars, located in the left area of this picture, are satellites of our galaxy the Milky Way, the LMC being 163,000 light-years away, and the SMC, a dwarf galaxy, being 200,000 light-years away. The Small Magellanic is located in the Tucana constellation and both the LMC and SMC appear as hazy bright spots in the southern hemisphere, like detached pieces of the Milky Way (as seen here).

Other than the Magellanic clouds, there is the star Antares which is located in the constellation Scorpius, in the right hand side of this picture, as well as the Milky Way. The Milky Way is our home galaxy, and appears as a strip of light across the sky due to our observation of it from its center. Specially in this photo, you can    see the center of the galaxy, a bright spot in the middle left portion of the galaxy band.