An inspiring story prompted this stunning image of the Milky Way over an island in Argentinian Patagonia.
The image was taken by astrophotgrapher Sergio Montúfar on Oct. 16 from Península Valdés, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, in Argentinian Patagonia. The island in the image is called “Isla de los Pajaros,” and it’s unique shape inspired a well-loved story.
“Its a popular legend that the shape of the island inspired Antonie [de Saint-Exupéry] to draw the hat or ‘boa swallowing an elephant’ in his ‘The Little Prince’ story book.” Montúfar wrote in an email to Space.com.
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 Little Prince’ is an amazing inspiring story that touched a lot of hearts including mine,” Montúfar said. “The Milky Way was right above the crescent moon, and the amazing airglow, just perfect.”
Milky Way Quiz: Test Your Galaxy Smarts
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Milky Way Quiz: Test Your Galaxy Smarts
Dust off your spiral arms and fatten up your bulge — it’s time to tap into your inner galaxy to test your smarts about the Milky Way. Our home in space is a strange and wondrous place that scientists are still trying to figure out. See what you know!
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Montúfar used a Sony a7 and a 24mm Carl Zeiss lens.The image is panorama of 8 vertical images for the sky (f1.8 / 13s / iso 8000 / 24mm) and the ground is 6 horizontal images (f1.8 /30s / iso 8000 / 24mm).
To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive .
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 tmalik@space.com.
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