Stargazer Snaps Stunning Milky Way Photo of Mount Rainier (Image)

Milky Way Over Mount Rainier National Park — The Milky Way shines over Mount Rainier National Park, Washington in this image sent to SPACE.com. Paula Cobleigh captured the photo on Oct. 25, 2013. Lights from the town of Cle Elum appear in the background. (Image credit: Paula Cobleigh)

The brilliant band of the Milky Way dazzles over Mount Rainier National Park in an amazing new image.

Paula Cobleigh captured this photo on Oct. 25 while visiting Mount Rainier National Park in Washington. Mount Rainier is an active volcano, ascending to 14,410 feet above sea level (4,392 meters). This massive glaciated peak also spawned six major rivers — the most in the contiguous United States. The lights in the background of the image, toward the front of the mountain are from the town of Cle Elum. [Stunning Photos of Our Milky Way Galaxy (Gallery )]

The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy made up of gas, dust and roughly 400 billion stars. Stretching between 100,000 to 120,000 light-years in diameter, our host galaxy appears from Earth like a line of light in the sky. The section of the galaxy we see is actually the center of the galaxy, as seen from one of its outer arms. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

The Milky Way Galaxy is organized into spiral arms of giant stars that illuminate interstellar gas and dust. The sun is in a finger called the Orion Spur.

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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.