Dawning of Venus at Cerro-Tololo (Close-up)

Dawn breaks behind the mountain of Cerro Tololo, bringing with it another day full of discoveries. This Image of the Week captures a panoramic view of the Belt of Venus rising behind instruments of the U.S. National Science Foundation Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab, in Chile. The red ‘belt’ is an atmospheric effect occurring before sunrise and sunset. The bright object in the sky left of center in the image is the waning Moon.

Another wider view of this image was featured as an Image of the Week and can also be found in the fulldome format.

This photo was taken as part of the NOIRLab 2022 Photo Expedition to all the NOIRLab sites. Petr Horálek, the photographer, is a NOIRLab Audiovisual Ambassador.