Ancients Pines Ancient Sky

The Milky Way band extends horizon to horizon over an ancient pine tree forest at Cedar Breaks National Monument in southern Utah. Among the longest-lived organisms, some of the twisted bristlecone trees—picture above in the foreground—are 5000 years old. Because of the vast distance between these stars and Earth, some of the starlight seen in this picture was actually emitted years ago, when these trees were just saplings.