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.

                              2020 February 27

                          Two Hemisphere Night Sky
     Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek/ESO, Juan Carlos Casado/IAC
                                   (TWAN)

   Explanation: The Sun is hidden by a horizon that runs across the middle
   in this two hemisphere view of Earth's night sky. The digitally
   stitched mosaics were recorded from corresponding latitudes, one 29
   degrees north and one 29 degrees south of the planet's equator. On top
   is the northern view from the IAC observatory at La Palma taken in
   February 2020. Below is a well-matched southern scene from the ESO La
   Silla Observatory recorded in April 2016. In this projection, the Milky
   Way runs almost vertically above and below the horizon. Its dark clouds
   and and bright nebulae are prominent near the galactic center in the
   lower half of the frame. In the upper half, brilliant Venus is immersed
   in zodiacal light. Sunlight faintly scattered by interplanetary dust,
   the zodiacal light traces the Solar System's ecliptic plane in a
   complete circle through the starry sky. Large telescope domes bulge
   along the inverted horizon from La Silla while at La Palma,
   multi-mirror Magic telescopes stand above center. Explore this two
   hemisphere night sky and you can also find the Andromeda Galaxy and the
   Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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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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