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 26

                         The Northern Winter Hexagon
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek

   Explanation: December's New Moon brought a solar eclipse to some for
   the holiday season. It also gave beautiful dark night skies to
   skygazers around the globe, like this moonless northern winter night.
   In the scene, bright stars of the Winter Hexagon along the Milky Way
   are rising. Cosy mountain cabins in the snowy foreground are near the
   village of Oravska Lesna, Slovakia. The shining celestial beacons
   marking the well-known asterism are Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux (and
   Castor), Procyon, Rigel, and Sirius. This winter nightscape also
   reveals faint nebulae in Orion, and the lovely Pleiades star cluster.
   Slide your cursor over the image to trace the winter hexagon, or just
   follow this link.

                   Tomorrow's picture: a beautiful Trifid
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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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