Point Reyes Milky Way
Northern winter
constellations and a long arc of the Milky Way
are setting in this night skyscape looking toward the Pacific Ocean from
Point Reyes on
planet Earth's
California coast.
Sirius, alpha star of Canis Major, is prominent below the starry arc
toward the left.
Orion's yellowish
Betelgeuse, Aldebaran in Taurus, and the blue tinted
Pleiades star cluster
also find themselves between
Milky Way and northwestern horizon near the center of the scene.
The nebulae visible in the series of exposures used to construct
this panoramic view were captured in early March,
but are just too faint to be seen with the unaided eye.
On that northern night their
expansive glow includes
the reddish semi-circle of Barnard's Loop
in Orion and
NGC 1499 above and right of the Pleiades, also known as the
California Nebula.