Gazing into the past

On clear nights along this southern English shore, ancient meets even more ancient. Laden with fossils, the Jurassic Coast is aptly named (though remains from the Triassic and Cretaceous are also scattered here). To explore this place is to peek back in time—and the same applies to our skyward-tilted photo. The Milky Way's center is more than 25,000 light years away, meaning some of the starlight reaching our eyes today first emanated during the last ice age.