The World at Night photography.
Happy Solstice! The longest night of the year in the northern hemisphere. The winter solstice on Dec 20-21 is celebrated by various cultures. Yalda is an interesting one, a popular Iranian celebration which routes back to several thousand years ago. It brings families together to cheer for the rebirth of the sun after the longest night. A few of the Christmas elements share possibly common origin with Yalda and the Mithraic tradition of worshiping the sun god.
Ten years ago on a starry night near the solstice I was imaging winter constellations Orion and Canis Major with the bright star Sirius above the Alborz mountain range in Iran, under the moonlight. The eerie lava-looking glow in the Haraz valley is the light of cars traveling the road that connects Tehran to the Caspian Sea.
Photo taken at Pulur, Māzandarān, Iran.
Post shared from https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc7_JTuAN6B/?taken-by=natgeotravel
What an awesome photo!
