Milky Way. Stars of the central Milky Way seen from the Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii, USA, over 2900 metres above sea level. The constellations of Sagittarius and Scorpius are seen at centre left and upper right respectively. The planet Mars is seen just to the left of upper centre (red). A pile of rocks topped with a piece of coral (white) is seen at lower left. The Milky Way is the band of light crossing the sky composed of the millions of stars in the plane of our Galaxy. Photographed on May 27, 2001, when Mars was nearing its closest approach to Earth for 13 years. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/MAGRATH PHOTOGRAPHY)