NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

The Milky Way at 5000 Meters

Climb up to 5000 meters (16,500 feet) above sea level, near Cerro Chajnantor [ http://www.alma.nra…photos/ ] in the northern Chilean Andes [ http://www.solarvie…], and your night sky could encompass this cosmic vista. Recorded from that high and dry locale [ http://www.alma.nra…], the spectacular fish-eye image features the myriad stars and sprawling dust clouds of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.atlasoft…]. The direction toward the center of the Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] is near the zenith and center of the picture, but the Galactic Center [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] itself is hidden from view, located far behind the obscuring dust. Brilliant Jupiter rules this scene just above the Milky Way's [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…] central bulge with the noticeably fainter, yellowish, giant star Antares [ http://www.astro.ui…] to its right. Small and faint, near the right edge of the picture is one of the Milky Way's many satellite galaxies [ http://www.atlasoft…], the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…].

The Amateur Astronomers Association of New York Presents:
APOD Editor's Lecture: Tonight [ http://www.aaa.org/] - American Museum of Natural History

Serge Brunier [ http://www.sergebru…]

Milky Way Galaxy

Jupiter

Small Magellanic Cloud

Chile

New York

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Earth

Jupiter

ANTARES

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap080104