Majestic Milky Way Shines Over Acadia National Park (Photo)

Christopher Georgia took this photo of the Milky Way galaxy from Hunter’s Head at Acadia National Park, Maine. He used a Nikon D3s camera with a Nikon 14-24 mm at 18 mm lens, 20-second exposure, ISO 2500 and F/2.8. The photo is a nine shot panorama taken in portrait position released to SPACE.com on May 11, 2013. (Image credit: Christopher Georgia / www.CMGFoto.com / www.facebook.com/CMGFoto)

This stunning night sky photo is a panorama of the Milky Way taken from Hunter's Head in Acadia National Park in Maine.

Christopher Georgia took this image using a Nikon D3s camera with a Nikon 14-24 mm at 18 mm lens, 20-second exposure, ISO 2500 and F/2.8. The photo is a nine-shot panorama taken in portrait position and released to SPACE.com on May 11.

The Milky Way is our own host galaxy containing our solar system. It is a barred spiral galaxy visible as a band of light in the night sky. The Milky Way galaxy is between 100,000 and120,000 light-years in diameter. Scientists estimate the galaxy contains roughly 400 billion stars bound together by gravity.

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Nina Sen is a freelance writer and producer who covered night sky photography and astronomy for Space.com. She began writing and producing content for Space.com in 2011 with a focus on story and image production, as well as amazing space photos captured by NASA telescopes and other missions. Her work also includes coverage of amazing images by astrophotographers that showcase the night sky's beauty.