NASA News · October 13, 2026
APOD: 2026 October 13 – Desert Stairway to Heaven
Where it is in your sky
- Object
- NGC 292 · Small Magellanic Cloud · Galaxy
- Constellation
- Tucana
- Best seen
- Evenings from August to December; highest at midnight in October
- Climbs above 20°
- From the South Pole to 3° S
- Never rises
- North of 17° N
- What you need
- Naked eye, from a dark site
Tonight from your location
From the source
This stairway in Chile brings you only a little bit closer to heaven. But ooh, the sky above it makes you wonder. For example, you may wonder about the dark lane of our own Milky Way galaxy rising behind the expansive Atacama Desert in Chile, the band of zodiacal light on the upper left, the green and red airglow just above the horizon, the star Spica in the zodiacal light stripe, and, at the very top on the right, the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy. The Desert Staircase sculpture is in the foreground, and this image was timed to catch the picturesque peering perch just in front of the near-vertical Milky Way band. Upon close inspection of the horizon you can find, left to right, some Andes Mountains, the Licancabur volcano, and the town lights of San Pedro de Atacama. The featured wide-angle composite was captured in July 2025.
From NASA News.
