Close Encounters of the Third Kind

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day The Milky Way, our home cosmic island of over 100 billion stars, shine above the Devils Tower in Wyoming. The mountain was the feature landmark for the alien landing in the famous 1977 movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. It is also the very first American national monument (established in 1906). Devils Tower is a monolithic volcanic neck located in the Black Hills in northeastern Wyoming. It rises dramatically 386 m above the surrounding terrain.