Astronomers are some of the luckiest people in the world because they get to work in some of the most beautiful places in the world! Imagine going to work each night and seeing the beauty of the starry sky above you, and getting paid to study it! I thought of that again today when I saw this image from the European Southern Observatory at La Silla in Chile. The folks at this site have amazing views of the sky nearly year-round. This view is of the early spring skies (southern hemisphere) taken on September 14, and features a radio dish with the stars shining through it. In the distance is the 3.6-meter telescope. And, arching over the scene is the Milky Way in all its splendor.

There’s something very primal about being under a night sky like this. I’ve only experienced it a few times in my life: for eight nights on Mauna Kea in 1996, a 3-week visit to Peru in 1986, and a 3-week cruise around South America in 2001 as an astronomy lecturer onboard an ocean liner. Each time I’d step out under the dark skies and feel as if the skies were about to swallow me up! It’s an eerie feeling, yet once you get used to it, you almost feel as if you’ve come home to the stars.

Whether you work under the stars as an astronomer or simply enjoy them as a hobby or pastime, the night time skies are a treasure to protect and enjoy!