Orion is rarely seen like this. To achieve this majestic vista , you need a camera capable of taking such long duration exposures that faint features in the night sky become revealed. Iconic nebulas that appear include the Orion Nebula , the Flame Nebula , and Barnard’s Loop . For contrast, it also helps to have a volcano on the foreground, in this case the Teide volcano on Tenerife on the Canary Islands of Spain . But if you want your Teide volcano snow-covered , you also need good timing — because that only happens, typically, for a few days each year. Good timing also includes waiting for Orion to appear just behind Teide , which occurred late last year after sunset. The featured image is the result of a series of images taken consecutively with the same camera from the same location. Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after 1995) Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-may-5-orion-over-mount-teide/