A 2014 16‑image panorama captures the Milky Way arching over Yellowstone National Park's Silex Spring, a hot spring roughly 10 meters in diameter. The spring is artificially illuminated, highlighting color variations produced by bacterial mats that grow in the heated water, while steam rises from the pool due to underground magma linked to the Yellowstone Hotspot.

The photograph shows the dense band of the Milky Way, a stretch of billions of stars, positioned high above the spring. The image was taken as part of NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day series and was credited to photographer Dave Lane.

Scientists note that the Yellowstone Hotspot, which triggered a supervolcanic eruption about 640,000 years ago, could affect much of North America if a similar event were to recur.

The picture was curated by NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day program, with editing by Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, and Keighley Rockcliffe.