A Starry Night of Sichuan

A mountain road covered in snow heads towards the west where the winter Milky Way sets next to the dazzling Venus and the Zodiacal Light. The cone-shaped glow is sunlight reflection from asteroid dust in the Solar System plane, only visible in naturally dark skies. The photographer was at 4000 meters elevation in Mount Gongga region of China, the easternmost 7,000 meters (23,000 ft) peak in the world and the third highest peak outside the Himalaya.