Astrophoto: Incredible View of the Milky Way from New Zealand

By Nancy Atkinson - March 4, 2013 at 8:18 PM UTC | Milky Way

There are some moments in an astrophotographer's life that you just have to step back and say thanks for the view. "Thanks clear sky," said Zhang Hong when he

posted this image on Google+.

This almost looks like a shower of stars raining down. Just gorgeous.

Here are the specs on his equipment: Nikon D800, Aperture: f/2.8, Focal length: 14.mm, exposure time:25.9 seconds, ISO-4000, -0.7 exposure compensation, spot metering, no flash, equatorial mount.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com