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 25

                     Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Tomás Slovinský

   Explanation: Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous
   four-star icon is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. The
   featured image was taken last month in Chile and captures the Southern
   Cross just to the left of erupting Villarrica, one of the most active
   volcanos in our Solar System. Connecting the reddest Southern Cross
   star Gacrux through the brightest star Acrux points near the most
   southern location in the sky: the South Celestial Pole (SCP), around
   which all southern stars appear to spin as the Earth turns. In modern
   times, no bright star resides near the SCP, unlike in the north where
   bright Polaris now appears near the NCP. Extending the Gacrux - Acrux
   line still further (from about four to about seven times their angular
   separation) leads near the Small Magellanic Cloud, a bright satellite
   galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. The Southern Cross asterism dominates
   the Crux constellation, a deeper array of stars that includes four
   Cepheid variable stars visible to the unaided eye. Just above the
   volcano in the image, and looking like a dark plume, is the Coalsack
   Nebula, while the large red star-forming Carina Nebula is visible on
   the upper left.

                   Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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