Wellington, September 28 : A photographer in New Zealand has captured on camera the outline of his country’s national icon, the kiwi, in the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.

According to a report in www. stuff. co. nz, photographer Fraser Gunn snapped the image of the ‘kiwi’, which is 26,000 light years away.

Gunn recently started astrophotography with Earth and Sky Stargazing Tours at the internationally renowned Mt John Observatory in Tekapo.

“When looking at the area with the naked eye, it’s difficult to locate the kiwi but my camera allows greater light and colour into the image giving it more definition,” Gunn said.

Run by the University of Canterbury, Mt John Observatory is the centre of New Zealand’s space research programme.

Its dark skies and high number of clear nights make it perfect for stargazing.

The Mackenzie region, where the Mt John Observatory is based, is considered New Zealand’s best stargazing spot and has been named the fourth best place in the world to go stargazing by United States travel website VirtualTourist. com.

The region has a bid underway to establish its night skies as a UNESCO World Heritage Starlight Reserve. (ANI)