Mount Damavand at Night

In a moonlit night of December in the Alborz Mountains Range of Iran, stars circle around the north celestial pole, marked by star Polaris, in a time-exposure image. Mount Damavand, a spectacular live volcano in the Alborz Mountain, reaching 5610 meters high, is the highest peak in the Middle East, and only 70km away from Tehran. Damavand has been a legendary and sacred mountain in the Persian culture. Click on the second photo to see a slightly different framing of this image.