Man! you have riveted me to this image for more than 30 minutes and my mind is finding it extremely difficult to let go of the image! I am jealous and wish it were mine but hats off to your effort!

What makes this image for me is the way you have exposed this image and the faint light on the foreground grass gives it a perfect night feel and the 'universe' is mind blowing. Foreground definitely adds to the image ( atleast for my taste ).

I have couple of questions and if you don't mind sharing the answers please do else don't bother

1) Do you have a vertical frame of this? If yes, do post it sometime. Somehow I feel a vertical frame would have created an extraordinary impact ( doesn't mean this image isn't creating one! ).

2) Mind sharing some technical details and your thought process in making this image? I was almost made my mind setting up a tripod atom KP, but I dared not to!! I am yearning to make an image of the night skies...wish I can do it sometime..

Pramod thanks for the admiration. I dont have a vertical frame unfortunately. Wish I had composed the shot vertically but I did not think of it at that time. And my main intention of doing it in a landscape orientation was to have more of the Earth in the frame so as to highlight the "Our" foot hold in this cosmos. And thats specifically why I had the grass in the foreground illuminated using a torch for just a bit to drive home our familiarity with the Earthly terrain and combine it with the unfamiliarity of the outerspace. It was my attempt to bridge the gap between the two. Technically this was a 30sec exposure at ISO 640 and f/3.5 at 18mm.The foreground was illuminated with a torch for this shot and the one on INW was not. I felt this shot with the illuminated foreground was better but I wasnt sure

I live here
a distant fire in my belly
takes me there, call it ganges
from where I return with
fire water mirth

Dear Sriharsha
This image is beyond words. Yet they must be used. The frame has so many dimensions of intrigue..it sorts of pulls the viewer in like a giant whirl. I see in it the nebulous giving birth to the defined. The core of the image according to me is in the feeling of connection it conveys between the earth and the cosmos. They look one. The earthy tone is very friendly. The gaze moves effortlessly between the out-here and out-there all made possible by the subtle presence of humble grass in the foreground.
Thanks for the voyage.

Nice experiement here Harsha, I think you are almost there. Do you think a bit moe of exposure/opening up would help this image further ? I think a bit more brighter milky way will add to it. Thanks for sharing..

I loved Nirlep's poetic views here as much as the image itself !! I echo his related to connection between earth and the cosmos !

Well worded views Nirlep, love reading it !

Wow; good one. I feel transported to the planetarium.

simply s t u n n i n g ! simply love that fragile connection between heaven 'n hell! very unusual warm tint and those speck of light seem to ornate (or celebrate) the union!

regards.