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A Southern Sky View
| Title |
A Southern Sky View |
| Explanation |
On 1996 March 22, a Galaxy and a comet shared the southern sky. They were captured together, from horizon to horizon, in the night sky above Loomberah, New South Wales, Australia [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/as.html ] by astronomer Gordon Garradd [ http://members.ozemail.com.au/~loomberah/ ]. Garradd used a home made all-sky camera with a fisheye lens [ http://www.zeta.org.au/~andrewa/ajaa31.htm ], resulting in a circular 200 degree field of view. This gorgeous sky view [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/images/96B2/96B2_960322_gg1.txt ] was dominated by the luminous band of our Milky Way Galaxy [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/milky_way.html ] cut by dramatic, dark interstellar dust clouds [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990919.html ]. Along with the bright stars of our Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010804.html ] is visible at the lower left. That night sky was also graced by the long, lovely, bluish tail of Comet Hyakutake [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980717.html ], which can be seen toward the top of the image, near the bright star Arcturus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/5340.html ]. Bright city lights from nearby Tamworth [ http://www.tamworthonline.com.au/ ] glow along the Northwestern horizon. |
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A Southern Sky View
| Title |
A Southern Sky View |
| Explanation |
From horizon to horizon, the night sky above Loomberah, New South Wales, Australia was photographed by astronomer Gordon Garradd [ http://usrwww.mpx.com.au/~gjg/ ] on March 22, 1996. Garradd used a home made all-sky camera with a fish-eye lens [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap970825.html ], resulting in a circular 200 degree field of view. This gorgeous sky view [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/images/96B2/96B2_960322_gg1.txt ] is dominated by the luminous band of the Milky Way [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960503.html ] cut by dramatic, dark interstellar dust clouds. Along with the bright stars of our Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980203.html ] is visible at the upper right (about 1 o'clock) and the long, lovely, bluish tail [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap960502.html ] of comet Hyakutake [ http://encke.jpl.nasa.gov/comets_long/96B2.html ] can be seen toward the bottom of the image, near the bright star Arcturus [ http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/5340.html ]. Bright city lights from nearby Tamworth glow along the Northwestern horizon. |
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