Next to a looming arch, astrophotographer Joshua Snow stands under the Milky Way in one of his favorite skywatching spots.
Snow took the image from Arches National Park in Moab, Utah in May 2016 during moonrise.
"I left my heart in Moab, and I want to go find it. I solemnly watched the moon rise while breathing in the desert air, becoming consumed by this place," Snow wrote.
The Milky Way, our own galaxy containing the solar system, is a barred spiral galaxy with roughly 400 billion stars. The stars, along with gas and dust, appear like a band of light in the sky from Earth. The galaxy stretches between 100,000 and 120,000 light-years in diameter. [Simple Stargazing: Explore the Milky Way ]
Arches National Park, with its stunning rock formations, is a prime location for night-sky photography and is listed as an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark-Sky Association.
Snow used a Nikon D750 camera with a Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 at ISO6400 to capture the image.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing skywatching photo you'd like to share with Space.com and our news partners for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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