Guiding Light To The Stars

A Notable Photo of the 2014 International Earth & Sky Photo Contest.

From the photographer: “This image was shot in one of my favorite ‘dark sky’ locations at Cape Palliser on the bottom of the North Island of New Zealand. This panorama covers a field of view of over 180 degrees horizontally, and is made up of 35 individual shots, giving an overall image size of over 300 megapixels. The photo shows the Milky Way low in the sky stretching from west to east, and looks like it is emerging from the light of the Cape Palliser Lighthouse. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds can be seen to the left of the Milky Way. These two objects are irregular dwarf galaxies and are only visible from the southern hemisphere.”