"Probably one of the most otherworldly places I’ve explored on Earth," says Supercluster spaceflight photographer Erik Kuna. Last year, he hit the road for Area 51 and came back with a map and photos that stirred the imagination. This year, Erik trekked to New Mexico in search of an extraterrestrial landscape right here on Earth.

The Bisti Badlands make a fitting backdrop for the Milky Way galaxy––with its strange formations, bizarre fossils, and mineral layer. Earth stands in for some of those rocky exoplanets currently being cataloged by NASA.

These photos are single exposure shots, no composites, no stacking, no tracking. Just light from our galaxy mixed in with dim light on our planet to illuminate the landscape and terrain of the badlands.