The summer Milky Way rises over an Ancient Bristlecone Pine tree in the desert White Mountains of California, at 11,300 ft.
This mosaic of 12 images spans roughly 180 degrees and was taken with a filter-modified camera that captures the red glow of hydrogen-alpha emission.
This wind-sculpted tree perished approximately 2,000 years ago, but first took root several thousand years ago in the rocky and alkaline dolomitic soil in these mountains where few other plants grow, but Bristlecone Pines survive over millenia.
Bright Mars rises right of center above the light pollution from Las Vegas 200 miles to the southeast. The Milky Way center rises at right over the light dome from Los Angeles 250 miles to the south.
But here at one of the darkest and most remote locations in the United States, the camera records faint colored airglow from excited molecules high in the atmosphere.