APOD: 2026 August 16 – Milky Way over Yellowstone

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day features a panorama combining earthly and cosmic vistas: the central band of the Milky Way arching high above Silex Spring, a geothermal hot spring in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The spring's brilliant colors—blues, yellows, and more—come from layers of heat-loving bacteria thriving in the mineral-rich water. This sixteen-image composite, captured in twenty fourteen, shows how billions of stars overhead frame the geological wonder of the hotspot below.

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