A viewer with a view Dec 4, 2018

A viewer with a view

The Sphinx Observatory isn’t the highest astronomical observatory on Earth, but it might feel like it to the lucky travelers who visit. To reach the observatory, they take a train up into the Alps, alight at Europe’s highest railway station, and ascend in an elevator tunneled inside the mountain. Once on top, stargazing is the academic focus, but visitors can take in sweeping views from the Sphinx’s 11,716-foot vantage. On either side are the Jungfrau and the Mönch, both members of the ‘four-thousander’ club—mountains that tower at least 4,000 meters (that’s 13,123 feet) above sea level.

© Jan Greune/Alamy

palette

Today in History

Dec 4, 2019Protecting endangered giants
Dec 4, 2020Protecting wildlife today and tomorrow
Dec 4, 2021Cheetah mother and cub
Dec 4, 2022World Wildlife Conservation Day
Dec 4, 2023International Cheetah Day
Dec 4, 2024Wildlife Conservation Day
Dec 4, 2025International Cheetah Day

More Desktop Wallpapers:

Oct 20, 2025International Sloth Day
Jun 25, 2021Birds and bees, and why they re so important
Jun 16, 2024Happy Fathers Day!
Dec 25, 2022Merry Christmas!
Jul 5, 2018Does it swim in slow motion too?
Aug 9, 2018Ruins of Inca temples and terraces on Huayna Picchu, Peru
Aug 18, 2020Women s suffrage at 100
Nov 1, 2021Native American Heritage Month
Jan 11, 2021At the gates of the ksar
Jan 27, 2021A dramatic view of Sicily
Mar 12, 2019The otherworldly red river
Jun 11, 2025Greater flamingos, Lüderitz, Namibia
Jan 8, 2020Take the stairs
Dec 20, 2022Christmas market at Belvedere Palace in Vienna
Jun 13, 2022Okavango Delta, Botswana
Oct 13, 2019Acadia transformed
Oct 17, 2023Spreadsheet Day
May 11, 2021 The Crown of the Continent
Mar 22, 2019Fresh water on the Silk Road
Jul 18, 2020The moth wonderful time of the year
Aug 27, 2023Jeju Island, South Korea
Apr 17, 2022Easter
Jan 5, 2023Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival, China
May 15, 2018Celebrating the UN’s International Day of Families
Sep 27, 2018High seas commerce
Sep 30, 2024Walruses in Svalbard, Norway
Apr 19, 2018Craig Goch Dam in the Elan Valley of Wales
Jul 27, 2022Mada in Saleh, Saudi Arabia
Jul 7, 2020Mercury in retrograde
Oct 28, 2023Castilla-La Mancha, Spain