Last year was a gift, so many beautiful skies and the underserved privilege of time and access to see them. I doubt it will be anyone else's favorite, but this shot made my photographic year. I found this scene in Skull Valley, Utah, a place much like what its name implies, known for being desolate and empty — a perfect destination for finding darkness and starlight. This year, a record-breaking snowfall flowed down mountainsides and burbled through underground aquifers to make the desert bloom.

It's a spot where heaven met Earth, and that's what I like about this photograph. Like most of my night sky images, it's a single exposure, one click of the camera button, not a composite of a sky shot and a ground shot taken during the day. This matters to me because I think it's surprising and exhilarating to realize that space and nature are not two separate places. Earth is a planet, and its flowers turn their faces to the Sun, which is its star.

This bouquet is yours. Share it with someone you'd like to be with under the same stars. Better yet, share it with someone who makes you enjoy remembering that we're all under the same stars. That someone, and the stars above them, are always there, whether you can see them or not.