Explanation:
This rock structure is not only surreal — it’s real.
Perhaps the reason it’s not more famous is that it is
smaller than one might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a
few meters.
Even so, the
King of Wings outcrop, located in
New Mexico,
USA, is a fascinating example of an unusual type of rock structure called a
hoodoo.
Hoodoos may
form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of
eroding
softer rock.
Figuring out the details of incorporating
this hoodoo
into a night-sky photoshoot took over a year.
Besides
waiting for a suitably picturesque night
behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to be
artificially lit
just right relative to the
natural glow of the background.
After much planning and waiting, the final shot,
featured here,
was taken in May 2016.
Mimicking the horizontal bar, the background sky features the band of our
Milky Way Galaxy stretching overhead.
Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240721.html