Venus, Mars and Zodiacal Lights

From the photographer: “The northwestern part of India is the location of the Thar desert, an arid region that sees very limited flora thrive in it. It also has an dark sky with a Bortle scale likely no greater than 3. In this image I wanted to try and capture some of the features of both the dark sky and the desert flora that is present there. Looking west, the foreground in this image shows the resilient ‘Babul’ tree in local language (taxonomic synonym Acacia nilotica), a native plant that thrives in this dry semi arid climate. Venus and Mars are visible to the right of the tree, with the zodiacal lights in their background.”

Technical Details: Camera: Sony A6000. ISO 4000, 8 sec shutter speed on a manual Rokinon 12mm lens at f/4, single-exposure
© Chirag Upreti