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 March 9

                   Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Chile
           Image Credit & Copyright: Roman PonÄ
a (ht: Masaryk U.)

   Explanation: What is the band of light connecting the ground to the
   Milky Way? Zodiacal light -- a stream of dust that orbits the Sun in
   the inner Solar System. It is most easily seen just before sunrise,
   where it has been called a false dawn, or just after sunset. The origin
   of zodiacal dust remains a topic of research, but is hypothesized to
   result from asteroid collisions and comet tails. The featured
   wide-angle image shows the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy arching
   across the top, while the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite
   galaxy to our Milky Way, is visible on the far left. The image is a
   combination of over 30 exposures taken last July near La Serena among
   the mountains of Chile. During the next two months, zodiacal light can
   appear quite prominent in northern skies just after sunset.

                  Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
                      Tomorrow's picture: cone of stars
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