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This picture taken with a fish-eye lens from inside the Gemini South dome shows the telescope nested in its altazimuth mount, pointing just high enough so that its monstrous 8-meter primary mirror is visible. The sky seen through the dome’s open vent gates which remain open during observing runs--when winds are relatively light-- to help equalize air temperatures inside and outside the dome.
The Gemini South telescope is located at about 2,750 meters (8,900 feet) elevation on Cerro Pachón, a mountain in the Chilean Andes. It is one of two 8-meter telescopes operated by the Gemini Observatory.Image credit: Gemini Observatory/AURA image by Manuel Paredes
