The Desert Landscape and Dynamic Nightscape at Cerro Tololo

Unlike the static desert landscape in the foreground, the dynamic nightscape above Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) is a hypnotizing show of lights. The Moon, which appears as a bright point at the right side of the frame, moves in concert with the Milky Way, a band of light on the left side of the frame. This apparent movement of the nightscape is a result of the Earth's rotation about its axis.