Namibian quiver trees and the glow of a galaxy

Florian Breuer is a mathematician who teaches in South Africa. He's also a photographer, and created this spectacular panorama of the Quiver Tree Forest near Keetmanshoop, Namibia.

[Click to embiggen and see the whole shot; I had to crop it a bit to fit here.]

Isn't that gorgeous? The arch of the Milky Way behind the trees is beautiful, and when I look at this picture I can't help but think of an array of radio telescope dishes turned toward the heavens.

By eye, the Milky Way is easily visible on a dark night from a dark site. The diffuse glow of the distant stars is interrupted by the accumulated absorption by clouds of dust between them and us, splitting the glow along its middle. In photographs like this, of course, those features leap right out.

Do you want to take pictures like this? Florian wrote up a pair of essays (first and second) describing how he made this and a few other images from his trip to Namibia. Of course, I suspect the first step is travel to Namibia, which may prove difficult for some of us. Still, there are plenty of places to take devastating pictures of the sky. Maybe even near you! So give it - haha - a shot.

Image credit: Florian Breuer, used by permission

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