Milky Way Galaxy Shimmers Over New Zealand Pool in Stunning Amateur Photo

Milky Way Reflections — Stargazer Amit Ashok Kamble captured this stunning view of the Milky Way reflected in a still pool at Pakiri Beach in New Zealand. Image submitted May 5, 2014. (Image credit: Amit Ashok Kamble)

The glow of the Milky Way in the night sky reflects off a deep pool along a New Zealand beach in this stunning photo captured by an astrophotographer.

This image is one of two spectacular views sent in to Space.com by night sky photographer Amit Ashok Kamble. The stargazer captured the Milky Way photos from Pakiri Beach, which he says is one of the best dark sky sites around the Auckland region of New Zealand.

"When I was out at Pakiri Beach shooting the Milky Way, I came across this pool which was unusually quite and calm," Kamble wrote in an email on May 5. "The sky at Pakiri is so dark that the Milky Way was reflected so brilliantly in the pool." [Amazing Night Sky Photos of May 2014]

This Milky Way reflection image is a 60Sec Untracked exposure that creates small star trails.

Night sky photographer Amit Ashok Kamble captured this amazing panorama of the Milky Way over Pakiri Beach, New Zealand by stitching 10 images together into a complete mosaic. Image submitted May 5, 2014. (Image credit: Amit Ashok Kamble)

Kamble also took a stunning 10-image panorama of the Milky Way from Pakiri Beach.

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"I was stocked to see the details in the image ... The greenish yellow glow on the sides is a beautiful display of airglow," he wrote. Kamble used an 18-55 lens on a Nikon D5100 (20Sec, ISO 3200, f3.5 at 18mm).

Airglow is a weak emission of light by a planet’s atmosphere, which often glows green due to oxygen molecules in our atmosphere. Our host galaxy, the Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy comprising roughly 400 billion stars.

To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.

Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

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Nina Sen is a frequent contributor to Live Science’s Life’s Little Mysteries series: an exploration and explanation of our world’s phenomena, both natural and man-made. She also writes astronomy photo stories for Live Science's sister site Space.com.