Star Trails and Lightning over the Pyrenees

There are layers in this image. The village of Manlleu is located in Spain. The car lights are exposed for six minutes. Serra de Bellmunt is a mountain located in the Pyrenees. There is a huge lightning storm coming from the anvil cloud. Many intricate lightning bolts were captured by the long exposure. Stars are at the top and farthest away. Stars were made into trails here. The trails show their distance from the north spin pole of the Earth above. The lightning storm was taken after sunset. Billions of years into the future, the stars will continue to circle the pole.

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Explanation: What's happening in the Statue of Liberty nebula? Bright stars and interesting molecules are forming and being liberated. The complex nebula resides in the star forming region called RCW 57, and besides the iconic monument, to some looks like a flying superhero or a weeping angel. By digitally removing the stars, this re-assigned color image showcases dense knots of dark interstellar dust, fields of glowing hydrogen gas ionized by these stars, and great loops of gas expelled by dying stars. A detailed study of NGC 3576, also known as NGC 3582 and NGC 3584, uncovered at least 33 massive stars in the end stages of formation, and the clear presence of the complex carbon molecules known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs are thought to be created in the cooling gas of star forming regions, and their development in the Sun's formation nebula five billion years ago may have been an important step in the development of life on Earth.