Astrophotos: The Galactic Desert

By Nancy Atkinson - June 14, 2013 06:00 PM UTC | Milky Way

The desert provides some of the most stunning landscapes and skycapes, as evidenced by two recent astrophotos from Universe Today readers. The gorgeous lead image by Sean Parker of Tucson, Arizona is a 12-image panoramic view of the Milky Way arching over Saguaro National Park in Tucson, Arizona. Sean noted on Flickr that if you live in Tucson, you can see this photo in a 12x36 frame at Black Crown Coffee Co for the next 3 weeks during his Astrophotography Exhibition. If you go, tell him Universe Today sent you!

The stunning image below is a frame from a timelapse being worked on by Ken Brandon of California. The image was taken on June 9, 2013 and features ancient Bristlecone pines in the foreground, with the arch of the Milky Way visible in the sky:

[caption id="attachment_102944" align="aligncenter" width="580"]

Ancient Bristlecone pines with an even more ancient Milky Way in the background. Credit and copyright: Ken Brandon. [/caption]

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain what's in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Nancy Atkinson

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