Milky Way Arches Over Mount Lassen Wilderness
Monday, May 25th, 2026 at 9:02:50 AM · 2026/Mt Lassen Volcanic National Park
This long-exposure night sky photograph captures the Milky Way galaxy's core band sweeping diagonally across the frame above Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park. Thousands of individual stars are visible against the deep black sky, with the characteristic dusty star-dense band of our galaxy creating a luminous river of light through the center of the image. Dark silhouettes of pine trees are barely visible in the upper right corner, grounding the cosmic scene in the terrestrial landscape of the park. The image conveys an overwhelming sense of scale and cosmic vastness, with subtle variations in the Milky Way's density and the presence of dark nebulae creating texture within the galactic band. The exposure reveals the incredible star density visible from a dark-sky location such as this national park in Northern California.
Chronologically Adjacent
