Under the Stars

The Milky Way shines over the mountains in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington. My tracks across the frozen and snow-covered Picture... more

by Alexis Birkill

Title

Under the Stars

Artist

Alexis Birkill

Medium

Photograph

Description

The Milky Way shines over the mountains in Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest in Washington. My tracks across the frozen and snow-covered Picture Lake can be seen in the foreground.

This is an eleven photo panorama covering a very wide field of view, approximately 220 degrees horizontally by 120 degrees vertically. This has required some minor distortion to be displayed flat, hence the slightly curved trees at each side.

Clouds were starting to come in from the west, which really emphasised the glow from the city lights of Abbotsford in BC and beyond in this direction, reflecting their orange glow.

The landscape is primarily lit by the starlight, but the glow of the exterior lights of the Mount Baker Ski Area is visible on the mountain slopes and at the far right of the photograph.

Significant stars and constellations visible include the Big Dipper (most of it), Cassiopeia, Andromeda, Vega, Deneb, Mirach, as well as the Double Cluster (central, near the top, containing around 600 stars), several galaxies (including the smudge just to the left of the middle of the image which is the Andromeda Galaxy, estimated to contain over one trillion stars), and a meteor trail.

Uploaded

March 1st, 2013