Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 January 22

                               The Milky Ring
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Alvin Wu

   Explanation: An expanse of cosmic dust, stars and nebulae along the
   plane of our Milky Way galaxy form a beautiful ring in this projected
   all-sky view. The creative panorama covers the entire galaxy visible
   from planet Earth, an ambitious 360 degree mosaic that took two years
   to complete. Northern hemisphere sites in western China and southern
   hemisphere sites in New Zealand were used to collect the image data.
   Like a glowing jewel set in the milky ring, the bulge of the galactic
   center, is at the very top. Bright planet Jupiter is the beacon just
   above the central bulge and left of red giant star Antares. Along the
   plane and almost 180 degrees from the galactic center, at the bottom of
   the ring is the area around Orion, denizen of the northern hemisphere's
   evening winter skies. In this projection the ring of the Milky Way
   encompasses two notable galaxies in southern skies, the large and small
   Magellanic clouds.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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