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 December 4

                               Electric Night
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Ivan Pedretti

   Explanation: It may appear, at first, like the Galaxy is producing the
   lightning, but really it's the Earth. The featured nighttime landscape
   was taken from a southern tip of the Italian Island of Sardinia in
   early June. The foreground rocks and shrubs are near the famous Capo
   Spartivento Lighthouse, and the camera is pointed south toward Algeria
   in Africa. In the distance, across the Mediterranean Sea, a
   thunderstorm is threatening, with several electric lightning strokes
   caught together during this 25-second wide-angle exposure. Much farther
   in the distance, strewn about the sky, are hundreds of stars in the
   neighborhood of our Sun in the Milky Way Galaxy. Furthest away, and
   slanting down from the upper left, are billions of stars that together
   compose the central band of our Milky Way.

           Free Lecture: APOD editor to speak in NYC on January 3
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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