Mounted image 019: Gegenschein over the VLT

At Paranal, home of ESO’s Very Large Telescope, the sky is so dark that the famous — and extremely difficult to observe — Gegenschein (or “counter shine”) can be seen here in its full glory. This is a faint brightening of the night sky in the region directly opposite the Sun, caused by the reflection of sunlight by interplanetary dust in the Solar System.