|
|
The Milky Way at 5000 Meters
| Title |
The Milky Way at 5000 Meters |
| Explanation |
Climb up to 5000 meters (16,500 feet) above sea level, near Cerro Chajnantor [ http://www.alma.nrao.edu/development/site/Chajnantor/ photos/ ] in the northern Chilean Andes [ http://www.solarviews.com/cap/earth/chile.htm ], and your night sky could encompass this cosmic vista. Recorded from that high and dry locale [ http://www.alma.nrao.edu/development/site/ ], the spectacular fish-eye image features the myriad stars and sprawling dust clouds of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/galaxy.html ]. The direction toward the center of the Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070210.html ] is near the zenith and center of the picture, but the Galactic Center [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021018.html ] 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.nasa.gov/apod/ap071020.html ] central bulge with the noticeably fainter, yellowish, giant star Antares [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/antares.html ] 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.atlasoftheuniverse.com/sattelit.html ], the Small Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050617.html ]. The Amateur Astronomers Association of New York Presents: APOD Editor's Lecture: Tonight [ http://www.aaa.org/ ] - American Museum of Natural History |
|
Comet Hyakutake and the Milk
…
| Title |
Comet Hyakutake and the Milky Way |
| Explanation |
Two years ago, the Great Comet of 1996 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960208.html ], Comet Hyakutake [ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/comet/hyakutake/ ], inched across our northern sky during its long orbit [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960314.html ] around the Sun [ http://www.seds.org/nineplanets/nineplanets/sol.html ]. Visible above as the bright spot with the faint tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960326.html ] near the picture [ http://www.psiaz.com/polakis/gco/gco.html ]'s center, Comet Hyakutake [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/comets_long/96B2.html ] shares the stage with part of the central band of the Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970517.html ], prominent in the picture's upper right. Also visible are Antares [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980726.html ], the bright orange star in the upper right, Arcturus [ http://www.windows.umich.edu/the_universe/Arcturus.html ], the bright star on the lower left, and the Pipe Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970621.html ], which is perhaps harder to find. Comet Hyakutake [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/index/Hyakutake.html ]'s unusually close approach [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960325.html ] to the Earth [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980204.html ] allowed astronomers to learn many things, including that comets can emit much X-ray light [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960411.html ]. |
|
|
