Shining like a beacon, this amazing lighthouse image appears to shine right at the Milky Way in the night sky.
The image was taken by Mike Taylor & Sonia MacNeil, the team at Taylor Photography from Marshall Point Lighthouse in Port Clyde, Maine.
"Marshall Point lighthouse is one of our favorite spots to shoot at night," Taylor wrote in an email to Space.com. "The 'wagon wheel' effect from the astragals in the tower's cap design adds to the otherworldly feel as the photogenic core section of the Milky Way stretches through the scene." (You can check out more awesome Milky Way photos by readers here.)
Comet 252P/LINEAR can also be seen as a green spot above and slightly to the left of the galactic core. Comet LINEAR was discovered on April 7, 2000 , by researchers from the Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research program (an MIT Lincoln Laboratory program funded by NASA and the U.S. Air Force). The comet's core is estimated to be 750 feet (230 meters) across, according to the statement.
In the behind the scenes image below, Taylor photography highlights the process it takes to make the image shine as well as their technical specifications.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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