Looking back in time

When observing the night sky we're looking back in time. The light from the stars we see have traveled for many years before it reaches us here on Earth. In this photo of the Milky Way and an old church ruin, we can take a look in the past.

The big red nebula near the center is the North American Nebula. The light from this nebula had been traveling for about 1500 years before it reach my camera this night. As a comparison, the old ruin in the foreground is from a church that was build 900 years ago. When they started building that church in 1200 AD, the nebula light I caught on this night had done 60% of it's distance to Earth.

At the top of the image you can see the Andromeda galaxy as a small disc shaped object under the tree. The light from Andromeda has traveled for 2,5 billion years before it reach my camera. When that light started its journey, the first members of the genus Homo appeared on Earth.

It's quite mind blowing to think of this while standing under a starry night sky.

Nikon D810A + Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm f/2.8
Exposure 20 sec. at ISO 3200

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