Thomas Ruff is world-famous for his large format photographs. He has focussed his lens at a range of objects, from abstract architecture to ghostly pornographic images, but has also created computer-generated Popart images. This photographer has always had a fascination for astronomy. But when Ruff wanted to take photographs of the night sky, he was initially unsuccessful. His cameras were not really capable of capturing the details of the spectacular stars and constellations. Air and light pollution were also problematic. The solution came thanks to his collaboration with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in the Andes in Chile, where he could make ‘observation shots’ of his beloved universe.