NASA Features Chilean Desert Staircase Beneath the Milky Way

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day on Oct. 13, 2026, highlights a night-sky photograph taken in Chile’s Atacama Desert in July 2025.

The wide-angle composite, credited to photographer Julien Looten, places the Desert Staircase sculpture in the foreground beneath the Milky Way. NASA’s explanation identifies the galaxy’s dark central lane, a band of zodiacal light and green and red airglow near the horizon. It also points out the star Spica and the Small Magellanic Cloud.

The scene’s horizon includes the Andes Mountains, Licancabur volcano and lights from the town of San Pedro de Atacama, according to NASA. The image was composed to position a small viewing perch on the sculpture in front of the Milky Way’s near-vertical band.

Astronomy Picture of the Day is a NASA feature that presents a different image or photograph of the universe each day, accompanied by an explanation written by a professional astronomer. The Oct. 13 entry lists Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti and Keighley Rockcliffe as authors and editors.