The Milky Way Over Loon Island: A Stargazer's Stunning View (Photo)

Astrophotographer A. Garrett Evans took the image Loon Island Lighthouse on Lake Sunapee in Sunapee, New Hampshire on Feb. 28, 2015. (Image credit: A. Garrett Evans)

This stunning panoramic of the Milky Way shows our host galaxy arching over Lake Sunapee.

Astrophotographer A. Garrett Evans took the image Loon Island Lighthouse on Lake Sunapee in Sunapee, New Hampshire on Feb. 28, 2015.

"I have been planning this shot for about a year and a half," Evans told Space.com in an email. "Four things need to happen to get this shot. The Milky Way core needs to be above the horizon, the weather needs to be clear, the moon needs to be set or in a new moon phase, and the ice needs to be safe."

Our host galaxy, the Milky Way, is a barred spiral galaxy seen as a band of light in the night sky. It stretches between 100, 000 and 120,000 light-years in diameter. It is estimated that the galaxy has approximately 400 billion stars. At the center of our galaxy lies a gigantic black hole billions of times the size of the sun. [See More Stunning Photos of the Milky Way ]

"The weather was clear, and the ice was safe and everything fell into place. I was lucky that the wind had blown the snow to cover any previous ski, snowshoe or snowmobile tracks on the lake near the lighthouse, and it also left a nice pattern to create some shadows in the foreground," he added.

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

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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.