Explanation:
This panoramic image of a starry night looks across
a dry, desolate landscape.
The magnificent view
was recorded from
Tassili National Park, in
the heart of the Sahara desert in southern Algeria.
Rising above eroded sandstone cliffs,
the celestial menagerie of constellations includes
Draco the Dragon,
Cygnus the Swan,
Aquila the Eagle, and
Scorpius the Scorpion.
Ruling planet Jupiter shines through
clouds very close to the horizon near picture center, while
star clouds of the Milky Way arc
through Sagittarius
above the rocks at the far right.
Bright blue stars Deneb, in Cygnus, and
Altair,
in Aquila, also
shine in the starry night along with Scorpius' bright yellowish star
Antares, the rival of Mars.
Prehistoric skygazers surely witnessed a similar sky.
In addition to dramatic sandstone formations,
the Tassili
region is noted for
rock art
and archaeological sites dating to
Neolithic times
when the local climate was wetter.
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