Smoke and Mirrors

Gemini North, of the international Gemini Observatory (a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab), stands peacefully in the foreground, under a crystal clear sky. The dramatic upward sweep of milky and sooty patches of the Milky Way galaxy is seen in the background. 

The dark tendrils that permeate the Milky Way are due to enormous clouds of cosmic dust. These clouds of tiny particles absorb and scatter light, making huge patches of the Milky Way appear dark to human eyes from our vantage point here on Earth. Telescopes such as Gemini North, however, see the night sky differently. They are designed to collect far more light that the human eye can, thanks to their large primary mirrors. They can also detect ranges of light that humans cannot, meaning that they can probe areas of cosmic dust, giving us information on things that would otherwise remain obscured.