Almost all of us could look up into the night sky for decades and we wouldn't see anything as marvelous as the
Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Australian Pinnacles. That's because most of us don't live in Australia - and those that do don't hang around in this part of Western Australia. But - WOW! - what a picture.
This photo was taken in Nambung National Park. The spires are made of limestone (rock formed from ancient sea shells). Arching across the sky is our own Milky Way Galaxy, seen edge on. Rising from the horizon near the center of the picture is zodiacal light. That's sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust grains. You can also see Jupiter and Saturn and a few bright stars.
Here is an annotated version of
Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Australian Pinnacles if you want to identify the stars and planets.
Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang
