caption: Photo illustration of Gaia with the Milky Way in the background.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "The Milky Way blazes above the European Southern Observatory (ESO) facilities at Mount Paranal in northern Chile\u2019s Atacama Desert. Paranal hosts the world\u2019s most advanced ground-based astronomical observatory, the Very Large Telescope (VLT), and is home to two new telescopes for large imaging surveys currently under construction, the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA). Both are expected to \u201ctake up duty\u201d in the 2009-2010 timeframe.  This photograph shows an edge-on view of the Milky Way\u2019s glowing plane slicing across the night sky, laced by bands of dust and dark gas. Taken with a digital camera using a three-minute exposure, the photograph also reveals a bit of action on the ground. To the left, a vehicle with its parking lights on stops lets out a passenger. Though bathed by the light of the Milky Way, the high-altitude desert remains quite dark. To illuminate the rightward path to the underground entrance ramp of the \u2018Residencia\u2019, where staff and visitors stay, the passenger takes along a small flashlight, seen as a squiggly bright line. In the lower right, the glass dome on the Residencia\u2019s roof reflects the starry sky overhead. One of our Milky Way\u2019s galactic satellites, the Large Magellanic Cloud, is seen hanging above the Residencia in the lower right corner of the image.", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D3", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.8.6", "Image DateTime": "2013:12:19 16:16:36", "Image ExifOffset": "1588", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExposureTime": "303", "EXIF FNumber": "16/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "800", "EXIF ExifVersion": "", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2009:05:21 02:09:10", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2009:05:21 02:09:10", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "-4121587/500000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "209759/62500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-4/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "14", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "08", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "08", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "620", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "411", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "0", "EXIF SceneType": "0", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "14", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}