Milky Way Arches Over Mount Lassen Wilderness
Monday, May 25th, 2026 at 9:00:50 AM · 2026/Mt Lassen Volcanic National Park
This long-exposure astrophotography image captures the Milky Way galaxy sweeping diagonally across the night sky above Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. The galactic core is visible as a luminous band of diffuse light and dense star clusters cutting through the center of the frame, with dark nebulae creating dramatic contrast within the galactic plane. Thousands of individual stars are scattered across the deep, inky black sky, with silhouetted tree branches barely visible in the upper right corner suggesting a forested location at altitude. The image has a cool, blue-green tonal quality characteristic of nighttime astrophotography, conveying profound solitude and the sublime scale of the cosmos. Shot with a Canon EOS R6 Mark II and the fast RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens, the image demonstrates a capable wide-field capture of the galactic band.
Chronologically Adjacent
