A beautiful creek winds idly through the desert, interupted by volcanic influence. Steam rises from twin fumaroles under the core of the Milky Way. On the left, you can see three planets aligned: Mars, Saturn and Jupiter. On the right, green atmospheric airglow can be seen. The orange light on the horizon is mostly distant light pollution, and behind the hill on the right the remnants of the setting moon. This image was captured in a brief window between moonset and sunrise in the eastern Sierras of central California.