Starry Sky above the Heart of Australia

Starry sky of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park; a World Heritage Site in Northern Territory of Australia. The area is best known for Uluru or Ayers Rock, a single massive rock formation visible in the center of this image like a long domed rock. Uluru is one of Australia’s best known natural features which is a so-called monolith, extending about 5 km beneath the desert plain and measuring 3.6 by 2.4 km at the surface. It rises 348 meters above the plain. Notable in the background sky is prominent constellation of Orion right above the rock, with Sirius, the brightest star in the entire night sky, to its right and the V figure of Taurus and the Pleiades star cluster to its left. On the far right is bright star Canopus and a Milky Way’s satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. On the far left another of our galactic neighbors is visible, the Andromeda Galaxy or M31. © Kwon, O Chul