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 May 5

                            Carina in Perspective
               Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Kiko Fairbairn

   Explanation: You need to be in the south, looking south, to see such a
   sky. And only then if you're lucky. Just above the picturesque tree is
   the impressive Carina Nebula, one of the few nebulas in the sky that is
   visible to the unaided eye. The featured image had to be taken from a
   very dark location to capture the Carina Nebula with such perspective
   and so near the horizon. The Great Nebula in Carina, cataloged as NGC
   3372, is home to the wildly variable star Eta Carinae that sometimes
   flares to become one of the brightest stars in the sky. Above Carina is
   IC 2944, the Running Chicken Nebula, a nebula that not only looks like
   a chicken, but contains impressive dark knots of dust. Above these
   red-glowing emission nebulas are the bright stars of the Southern
   Cross, while on the upper left of the image is the dark Coalsack
   Nebula. This image was composed from six consecutive exposures taken
   last summer from Padre Bernardo, Goiás, Brazil. Even with careful
   planning, the astrophotographer felt lucky to get this shot because
   clouds -- some still visible near the horizon -- kept getting in the
   way.

                  Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
                      Tomorrow's picture: star parabola
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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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