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.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
