Spectacular! São Miguel is a volcanic island, dotted with cinder cones. The lake you see in the foreground is Lagoa de Fogo — “Lagoon of Fire” — named so due to its volcanic nature. But the moniker rings true in Babak’s photo, as well! The clouds look like ghostly flames, illuminated by the southside town of Vila Franco do Campo a few kilometers away.

The Milky Way over the Lake of Fire (Lagoa_do_Fogo) in the beautiful Sao Miguel island of Portugal, Azores, Atlantic Ocean. This is a volcanic crater lake in the center of the island. The light of Vila Franca do Campo, a town at the southern shore of the island, appears at the horizon and illuminates the clouds. In the sky, Saturn is at the upper right. Antares, the bright star that marks the Scorpion’s heart, is below Saturn, next to the bright bulge of the galaxy. The three bright stars of Stars of the Summer Triangle (Vega, Deneb, and Altair) are on the left, along the Milky Way.

--      Oh, So That's How We Know We Live in a Spiral galaxy!