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 26

                  The Milky Way over Snow-Capped Himalayas
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Tomas Havel

   Explanation: What's higher than the Himalayas? Although the Himalayan
   Mountains are the tallest on planet Earth, they don't measure up to the
   Milky Way. Visible above the snow-capped mountains in the featured
   image is the arcing central band of our home galaxy. The bright spot
   just above the central plane is the planet Jupiter, while the brightest
   orange spot on the upper right is the star Antares. The
   astrophotographer braved below-zero temperatures at nearly 4,000-meters
   altitude to take the photographs that compose this image. The featured
   picture is a composite of eight exposures taken with same camera and
   from the same location over three hours, just after sunset, in 2019
   April, from near Bimtang Lake in Nepal. Over much of planet Earth, the
   planets Mercury (faint) and Venus (bright) will be visible this week
   after sunset.

   Experts Debate: How will humanity first discover extraterrestrial life?
                    Tomorrow's picture: Earth from Saturn
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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