The Milky Way over les Combins

All the stars we see in the night sky are in our own Milky Way Galaxy which is a large barred spiral galaxy. It is called the Milky Way because it appears as a milky band of light in the sky when you see it in a really dark area. The Milky Way contains over 200 billion stars, and enough dust and gas to make billions more. The solar system lies about 30,000 light-years from the galactic centre, and about 20 light-years above the plane of the galaxy. More than half the stars found in the Milky Way are older than the 4.5-billion-year-old sun. I spent the summer evening nearby la Chaux in Verbier at 2265m to get ready for this shot. I used Photo Pills to plan when the Milky Way would be situated directly over the snow and ice capped Grand Combin.