Mount Gargash Night Panorama

This 360-degree panoramic view is made in a clear moonlit night of November above Mount Gargash in Zagros mountains of central Iran, not far from the town of Kashan. This 3600-meter high mountain has exceptional seeing and atmospheric transparency for astronomical observations and the climate and astronomical seeing at the peak are monitored by Iran National Observatory project. The first quarter moon on the left (south west) is illuminating the landscape. To its right is the setting summer Milky Way. Stars of Ursa Major and Ursa Minor including Polaris, the North Star, are in the middle, above light domes of Kashan (35km away), Tehran (220km), and Qom (120km). Beyond the closer “micro-thermal towers” are the rising constellation Perseus and Auriga, and the Pleiades star cluster right above the rocks; the first harbingers of the winter sky. Continue to the right end to find bright planet Jupiter. The light pollution at at the far right (south) is from Isfahan (110km away).