A Night Sky over the Tatra Mountains

A natural border between Slovakia and Poland is the Tatra Mountains . A prominent destination for astrophotographers, the Tatras are the highest mountain range in the Carpathians . In the featured image taken in May, one can see the center of our Milky Way galaxy with two of its famous stellar nurseries , the Lagoon and Omega Nebula , just over the top of the Tatras. Stellar nurseries are full of ionized hydrogen , a fundamental component for the formation of Earth-abundant water . As a fundamental ingredient in all known forms of life , water is a crucial element in the Universe . Such water can be seen in the foreground in the form of the Bialka River . Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator