In a cosmic vista you can never see, the
Milky Way
arcs through the night above Seoul, South Korea.
Remarkably, this
urban night skyscape
reveals our galaxy's faintly luminous
central region and dark obscuring dust clouds in spite of the
brilliant city lights.
To overcome the extreme
light pollution
of the metropolitan area and record faint cosmic details,
an infrared filter was used to capture the night scene in a single exposure.
While the filter transmits predominately infrared light,
it still passes some
visible light
to give the scene a natural appearance.
The view is from Seoul's Ttukseom Hangang Park,
with the Han River and a well lit railway bridge across the foreground.
The 123 story Lotte World Tower looms in the distance,
the tallest building in South Korea.