Milky Way Galaxy, Eerie Airglow Paint Night Sky Amazing Colors (Photo)

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Milky Way, Green Airglow Over Isle of Wight
The Milky Way and green airglow are captured over the Isle of Wight in this image taken by Chad Powell on Oct. 4, 2013, using a Canon 6D camera (25 seconds, f/2.8, 20mm, and ISO 4000). (Image credit: Chad Powell | Isle of Wight Milky Way Photography | www.isleofwightmilkyway.com)

The horizon glows a haunting green, silhouetting trees on the Isle of Wight as the band of the Milky Way shines overhead in this spectacular photo recently sent in to SPACE.com by a veteran photographer.

Night sky photographer Chad Powell captured this beautiful image, which he aptly calls "Too Many Stars To Count," on Oct. 4 using a Canon 6D camera (25 seconds, f/2.8, 20mm, and ISO 4000).

"The sky was so bright this particular evening from both the Milky Way and green airglow," Powell told SPACE.com in an email. "Due to this, a very strong silhouette lined the foreground and trees in the distance." [See more amazing Milky Way galaxy photos]

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Our host galaxy, the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy comprising roughly 400 billion stars. It spans between 100,000 to 120,000 light-years in diameter. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).

To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by SPACE.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

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.

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Nina Sen
Contributing Writer and Producer

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.