Winter Sky Summer Sky

The left hand side of this double panel picture shows the winter constellations and faint band of Milky Way at their highest due south, as seen from the summit ridge of Uludag in October 2011. The rocky foreground is partly covered with the first snowfall of the season. The visibility was superb at the imaging time, which is typical for autumn. The right hand side shows how the sky looked in July 2011 which was photographed with identical equipment at the exact same location. In this look at the opposite sky, the summer constellations and the much brighter Milky Way can be seen. The highlands look a bit different as the lower atmosphere is more hazy because of high summer temperature and the moist. The bright central bulge of Milky Way nicely dominates the hazy foreground. Uludag near Bursa is the highest mountain in the northwest of Turkey. This vantage point is Karatas Peak, the third highest spot on the summits ridge at an elevation of 2536 meters. The high ridge of barren granite continues for 12 kilometers. The highest peak with the elevation of 2543 meters is the second one to the left from the center, with its distinct shape of a broken dome.