Milky Way, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The Milky Way is our galaxy seen from the inside, forming a band of stars and nebulae stretching across the sky. Mars is the bright object in the lower left corner of the sky and the Andromeda Galaxy appears as a faint oblong in upper left. The blue star right of centre is Vega. The reddish areas of the Milky Way are emission nebulae, stellar nurseries such as the North America Nebula (NGC7000). Located in Cygnus constellation, this is a distinctive shape just above centre. Photographed in 2018 at the Dark Sky Alqueva Reserve, Portugal.