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.

                               2019 October 15

                              The Galaxy Above
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Rodrigo Guerra

   Explanation: Have you contemplated your home galaxy lately? If your sky
   looked like this, perhaps you'd contemplate it more often! The featured
   picture is actually a composite of two images taken last month from the
   same location in south Brazil and with the same camera -- but a few
   hours apart. The person in the image -- also the astrophotographer --
   has much to see in the Milky Way Galaxy above. The central band of our
   home Galaxy stretches diagonally up from the lower left. This band is
   dotted with spectacular sights including dark nebular filaments, bright
   blue stars, and red nebulas. Millions of fainter and redder stars fill
   in the deep Galactic background. To the lower right of the Milky Way
   are the colorful gas and dust clouds of Rho Ophiuchus, featuring the
   bright orange star Antares. On this night, just above and to the right
   of Antares was a bright planet Jupiter. The sky is so old and so
   familiar that humanity has formulated many stories about it, some of
   which inspired this very picture.

                      Tomorrow's picture: double start
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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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