It's that time again.. time for a new Featured Image!
It goes without saying that choosing a Featured Image is always a difficult choice. With more than 70,000 images to choose from, and only one to choose for a whole week, you need choose something special. So here it is.
This image was uploaded by one of our many anonymous users.
This composite photograph shows the night sky above Mount Taranaki in New Zealand, filled with thousands of artificial satellite trails.
Key Details About the Image:
• Photographer: Captured by Brendan Larsen.
• Location: Norfolk / Mount Taranaki, New Zealand.
• Date & Time: September 9, 2026, between 8:18 PM and 10:13 PM local time.
• How It Was Made: It is a real composite astrophotography image (not AI-generated), compiled from 578 individual 8-second exposures taken over nearly two hours.
• The Numbers: The final edited composite reveals an estimated 14,450 satellite trail appearances representing roughly 1,400 distinct satellites (such as Starlink and other low Earth orbit spacecraft). The small lights visible on the slopes of the mountain are actually two mountaineers descending in the dark.
• Editing Process: The photographer manually masked in the trails over roughly 45 hours of post-processing to highlight how crowded Earth's lower orbit has become.
So without further ado, enjoy this update.
If you'd like to suggest a future IOTW image for the site, feel free to do so by visiting our forum! I've created a new topic just for it, so click here if you have something to add!We hope you enjoy this week's Featured Image!
As always, we're looking for people to help us out with some fresh uploads. If you've got anything you'd like to share, it only takes a moment - click here to upload an image to plus613.net!You can also check out previous IOTW images by clicking hereTo see the 'statistical' Image Of The Week for the past 7 days, click here!
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