From the rugged badlands of Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park, the central bulge of our Milky Way rises in breathtaking detail. The dense star fields are threaded with dark molecular dust lanes, while pinkish-red hydrogen emission nebulae, including the Lagoon (M8) and Trifid (M20) Nebulae , glow from the ultraviolet light of massive young stars. Higher in the frame, faint extended nebulae appear as red arcs and patches, their delicate structures revealed through long exposure imaging.

Near the horizon, a greenish band of airglow shines from oxygen atoms high in Earth’s atmosphere, contrasting with the cool-toned, shadowed terrain below. Together, the stark geology of the badlands and the rich structure of our galaxy create an image that bridges Earth and cosmos, captured under some of the darkest skies in the continental United States.