A Starry Night of Meteora

The night sky above the World Heritage site of Meteora. Constellation Cassiopeia is on the left and Andromeda is on the right. The elongated small halo near the middle is the Andromeda Galaxy or M31; the Milky Way’s neighboring spiral galaxy, home to over one trillion stars. Meteora is a historic complex of lofty bizarre monasteries which are built on (or inside) giant natural sandstone rock pillars. Some are about a thousand years old. The name Meteora means “middle of the sky” or “in the heavens above”. Click on the second photo to see a closer view of the Andromeda Galaxy over the monastery.