Astronomy Picture of the Day (Unofficial) apod@hub.polari.us
SPACE!
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.
Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-17 12:30:03.619139
2022-01-17T18:30:04Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 17
Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
Image Credit & Copyright: Jarmo Ruuth, Telescope Live, Heaven's Mirror ObservatoryExplanation: Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an angular elegance. Such is the case toward the far-south constellation of Chamaeleon. Normally too faint to see, dark dust is best known for blocking visible light from stars and galaxies behind it. In this four-hour exposure, however, the dust is seen mostly in light of its own, with its strong red and near-infrared colors giving creating a brown hue. Contrastingly blue, the bright star Beta Chamaeleontis is visible just to the right of center, with the dust that surrounds it preferentially reflecting blue light from its primarily blue-white color. All of the pictured stars and dust occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy with -- but one notable exception: the white spot just below Beta Chamaeleontis is the galaxy IC 3104 which lies far in the distance. Interstellar dust is mostly created in the cool atmospheres of giant stars and dispersed into space by stellar light, stellar winds, and stellar explosions such as supernovas.
Tomorrow's picture: icons over australia
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-16 12:30:02.857919
2022-01-16T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 16
A Retreating Thunderstorm at Sunset
Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Dyer (The Amazing Sky)Explanation: What type of cloud is that? This retreating cumulonimbus cloud, more commonly called a thundercloud, is somewhat unusual as it contains the unusual bumpiness of a mammatus cloud on the near end, while simultaneously producing falling rain on the far end. Taken in mid-2013 in southern Alberta, Canada, the cloud is moving to the east, into the distance, as the sun sets in the west, behind the camera. In the featured image, graphic sunset colors cross the sky to give the already photogenic cloud striking orange and pink hues. A darkening blue sky covers the background. Further in the distance, a rising, waxing, gibbous moon is visible on the far right.
Tomorrow's picture: angular space dust
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Boom!
intermedialna kredytyAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-15 12:30:03.008450
2022-01-15T18:30:04Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 15
Galileo's Europa
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SETI Institute, Cynthia Phillips, Marty ValentiExplanation: Looping through the Jovian system in the late 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft recorded stunning views of Europa and uncovered evidence that the moon's icy surface likely hides a deep, global ocean. Galileo's Europa image data has been remastered here, with improved calibrations to produce a color image approximating what the human eye might see. Europa's long curving fractures hint at the subsurface liquid water. The tidal flexing the large moon experiences in its elliptical orbit around Jupiter supplies the energy to keep the ocean liquid. But more tantalizing is the possibility that even in the absence of sunlight that process could also supply the energy to support life, making Europa one of the best places to look for life beyond Earth. What kind of life could thrive in a deep, dark, subsurface ocean? Consider planet Earth's own extreme shrimp.
Tomorrow's picture: a very cloudy day
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-14 12:30:03.215607
2022-01-14T18:30:04Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 14
NGC 1566: The Spanish Dancer Spiral Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson and Mike SelbyExplanation: An island universe of billions of stars, NGC 1566 lies about 60 million light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado. Popularly known as the Spanish Dancer galaxy, it's seen face-on from our Milky Way perspective. A gorgeous grand design spiral, this galaxy's two graceful spiral arms span over 100,000 light-years, traced by bright blue star clusters, pinkish starforming regions, and swirling cosmic dust lanes. NGC 1566's flaring center makes the spiral one of the closest and brightest Seyfert galaxies. It likely houses a central supermassive black hole wreaking havoc on surrounding stars, gas, and dust. In this sharp southern galaxy portrait, the spiky stars lie well within the Milky Way.
Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-13 12:30:02.721677
2022-01-13T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 13
Supernova Remnant Simeis 147
Image Credit & Copyright: Jason DainExplanation: It's easy to get lost following the intricate, looping, twisting filaments in this detailed image of supernova remnant Simeis 147. Also cataloged as Sharpless 2-240 it goes by the popular nickname, the Spaghetti Nebula. Seen toward the boundary of the constellations Taurus and Auriga, it covers nearly 3 degrees or 6 full moons on the sky. That's about 150 light-years at the stellar debris cloud's estimated distance of 3,000 light-years. This composite includes image data taken through narrow-band filters where reddish emission from ionized hydrogen atoms and doubly ionized oxygen atoms in faint blue-green hues trace the shocked, glowing gas. The supernova remnant has an estimated age of about 40,000 years, meaning light from the massive stellar explosion first reached Earth 40,000 years ago. But the expanding remnant is not the only aftermath. The cosmic catastrophe also left behind a spinning neutron star or pulsar, all that remains of the original star's core.
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-12 12:30:02.584313
2022-01-12T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 12
Comet Leonard Closeup from Australia
Image Credit & Copyright: Blake Estes (itelescope.net)Explanation: What does Comet Leonard look like up close? Although we can't go there, imaging the comet's coma and inner tails through a small telescope gives us a good idea. As the name implies, the ion tail is made of ionized gas -- gas energized by ultraviolet light from the Sun and pushed outward by the solar wind. The solar wind is quite structured and sculpted by the Sun's complex and ever changing magnetic field. The effect of the variable solar wind combined with different gas jets venting from the comet's nucleus accounts for the tail's complex structure. Following the wind, structure in Comet Leonard's tail can be seen to move outward from the Sun even alter its wavy appearance over time. The blue color of the ion tail is dominated by recombining carbon monoxide molecules, while the green color of the coma surrounding the head of the comet is created mostly by a slight amount of recombining diatomic carbon molecules. Diatomic carbon is destroyed by sunlight in about 50 hours -- which is why its green glow does not make it far into the ion tail. The featured image was taken on January 2 from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Comet Leonard, presently best viewed from Earth's Southern Hemisphere, has rounded the Sun and is now headed out of the Solar System.
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-11 12:30:02.251107
2022-01-11T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 11
Orion's Belt Region in Gas and Dust
Image Credit & Copyright: Matt Harbison (Space4Everybody), Marathon Remote Imaging ObservatoryExplanation: You may have seen Orion's belt before -- but not like this. The three bright stars across this image are, from left to right, Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak: the iconic belt stars of Orion. The rest of the stars in the frame have been digitally removed to highlight the surrounding clouds of glowing gas and dark dust. Some of these clouds have intriguing shapes, including the Horsehead and Flame Nebulas, both near Alnitak on the lower right. This deep image, taken last month from the Marathon Skypark and Observatory in Marathon, Texas, USA, spans about 5 degrees, required about 20 hours of exposure, and was processed to reveal the gas and dust that we would really see if we were much closer. The famous Orion Nebula is off to the upper right of this colorful field. The entire region lies only about 1,500 light-years distant and so is one of the closest and best studied star formation nurseries known.
Tonight: APOD Editor to Present the Best Space Images of 2021
Tomorrow's picture: comet close-up
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-10 12:30:03.177024
2022-01-10T18:30:04Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 10
Comet Leonard's Tail Wag
Image Credit: NASA, NRL, STEREO-A; Processing: B. GallagherExplanation: Why does Comet Leonard's tail wag? The featured time-lapse video shows the ion tail of Comet C/2021 A1 (Leonard) as it changed over ten days early last month. The video was taken by NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Ahead (STEREO-A) spacecraft that co-orbits the Sun at roughly the same distance as the Earth. Each image in this 29-degree field was subtracted from following image to create frames that highlight differences. The video clearly shows Comet Leonard's long ion tail extending, wagging, and otherwise being blown around by the solar wind -- a stream of fast-moving ions that stream out from the Sun. Since the video was taken, Comet Leonard continued plunging toward the Sun, reached its closest approach to the Sun between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, survived this closest approach without breaking apart, and is now fading as heads out of our Solar System.
Tuesday over Zoom: APOD editor to present the Best APOD Space Images of 2021
Tomorrow's picture: around orion
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2022-01-09 20:26:30.045551
2022-01-10T02:26:30Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2022 January 9
Hubble's Jupiter and the Shrinking Great Red Spot
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, OPAL Program, STScI; Processing: Karol MasztalerzExplanation: What will become of Jupiter's Great Red Spot? Gas giant Jupiter is the solar system's largest world with about 320 times the mass of planet Earth. Jupiter is home to one of the largest and longest lasting storm systems known, the Great Red Spot (GRS), visible to the left. The GRS is so large it could swallow Earth, although it has been shrinking. Comparison with historical notes indicate that the storm spans only about one third of the exposed surface area it had 150 years ago. NASA's Outer Planets Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program has been monitoring the storm more recently using the Hubble Space Telescope. The featured Hubble OPAL image shows Jupiter as it appeared in 2016, processed in a way that makes red hues appear quite vibrant. Modern GRS data indicate that the storm continues to constrict its surface area, but is also becoming slightly taller, vertically. No one knows the future of the GRS, including the possibility that if the shrinking trend continues, the GRS might one day even do what smaller spots on Jupiter have done -- disappear completely.
Tuesday over Zoom: APOD editor to present the Best APOD Space Images of 2021
Tomorrow's picture: wagging comet tail
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Nice picture
polecam cosmeticsdream ręczniki jednorazoweAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-23 12:30:01.479506
2021-12-23T18:30:02Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 23
Three Planets and a Comet
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)Explanation: Are you still looking for that perfect holiday gift for an astronomer? If your night sky is dark and horizon clear enough, the Solar System may have done your shopping for you. Send them outside after sunset to see three planets and a comet. In this snapshot of the December solstice evening sky from the village of Kirazli, Turkey the brightest celestial beacon is Venus, close to the southwestern horizon at the right. Look left and up to find Saturn shining between clouds. Follow that line farther left and up to bright Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant. This year's surprise visitor to the inner Solar System, Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1), is near the horizon too. The comet is fainter but forms a nearly equilateral triangle with planets Venus and Saturn in this view. After a dramatic brightening in recent days the comet is just visible to the unaided eye, though a nice pair of binoculars is always a good idea.
Notable Submissions to APOD: Planetary Alignment: 2021 December
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Piękne intermedialna.plAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-22 12:30:02.392563
2021-12-22T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 22
Launch of the IXPE Observatory
Image Credit & Copyright: Jordan SirokieExplanation: Birds don't fly this high. Airplanes don't go this fast. The Statue of Liberty weighs less. No species other than human can even comprehend what is going on, nor could any human just a millennium ago. The launch of a rocket bound for space is an event that inspires awe and challenges description. Pictured here, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, Florida earlier this month carrying the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). IXPE is scheduled to observe high-energy objects such as neutron stars, black holes, and the centers of distant galaxies to better determine the physics and geometries that create and control them. From a standing start, the 300,000+ kilogram rocket ship lifted IXPE up to circle the Earth, where the outside air is too thin to breathe. Rockets bound for space are now launched from somewhere on Earth every few days.
Launch Update: James Webb Space Telescope
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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ever ewerAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-21 12:30:01.766978
2021-12-21T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 21
Solstice Sun and Milky Way
Composite Image Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip (TWAN)Explanation: Welcome to December's solstice, first day of winter in the north and summer for the southern hemisphere. Astronomical markers of the seasons, solstice and equinox dates are based on the Sun's place in its annual journey along the ecliptic, through planet Earth's sky. At this solstice, the Sun reaches its maximum southern declination of -23.5 degrees today at 15:59 UTC, while its right ascension coordinate on the celestial sphere is 18 hours. That puts the Sun in the constellation Sagittarius in a direction near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, if you could see today's Solstice Sun against faint background stars and nebulae (that's really hard to do, especially in the daytime ...) your view might look something like this composited panorama. To make it, images of our fair galaxy were taken under dark Namibian night skies, then stitched together in a panoramic view. From a snapshot made on 2015 December 21, the Sun was digitally overlayed as a brilliant star at today's northern winter solstice position, close to the center of the Milky Way.
Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD
Tomorrow's picture: X launch
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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woowAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-20 12:30:02.145309
2021-12-20T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 20
The Comet and the Fireball
Image Credit & Copyright: Cory PooleExplanation: This picture was supposed to feature a comet. Specifically, a series of images of the brightest comet of 2021 were being captured: Comet Leonard. But the universe had other plans. Within a fraction of a second, a meteor so bright it could be called a fireball streaked through just below the comet. And the meteor's flash was even more green than the comet's coma. The cause of the meteor's green was likely magnesium evaporating from the meteor's pebble-sized core, while the cause of the comet's green was likely diatomic carbon recently ejected from the comet's city-sized nucleus. The images were taken 10 days ago over the Sacramento River and Mt. Lassen in California, USA. The fireball was on the leading edge of this year's Geminid Meteor Shower -- which peaked a few days later. Comet Leonard is now fading after reaching naked-eye visibility last week -- but now is moving into southern skies.
Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: a solar milky way
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amazing intermedialnaAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-19 12:30:01.612120
2021-12-19T18:30:02Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 19
Planetary Alignment over Italy
Image Credit & Copyright: Antonio FinazziExplanation: It is not a coincidence that planets line up. That's because all of the planets orbit the Sun in (nearly) a single sheet called the plane of the ecliptic. When viewed from inside that plane -- as Earth dwellers are likely to do -- the planets all appear confined to a single band. It is a coincidence, though, when three of the brightest planets all appear in nearly the same direction. Such a coincidence was captured earlier this month. Featured above (right to left), Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were all imaged together in a line just after sunset, from the San Fermo Hills, Bergamo, Italy. Joining the alignment are Earth's Moon, and the position of the more distant Uranus. Bands of clouds streak across the sky toward the setting Sun. As Comet Leonard fades, this planetary alignment -- absent the Moon -- should persist for the rest of the month.
Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD
Tomorrow's picture: comet fireball
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Best photo intermedialna syntex loloboloAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-18 12:30:02.288605
2021-12-18T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 18
Stephan's Quintet
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Legacy Archive;
Processing & Copyright: Bernard MillerExplanation: The first identified compact galaxy group, Stephan's Quintet is featured in this eye-catching image constructed with data drawn from the extensive Hubble Legacy Archive. About 300 million light-years away, only four of these five galaxies are actually locked in a cosmic dance of repeated close encounters. The odd man out is easy to spot, though. The interacting galaxies, NGC 7319, 7318A, 7318B, and 7317 have an overall yellowish cast. They also tend to have distorted loops and tails, grown under the influence of disruptive gravitational tides. But the predominantly bluish galaxy, NGC 7320, is closer, just 40 million light-years distant, and isn't part of the interacting group. Stephan's Quintet lies within the boundaries of the high flying constellation Pegasus. At the estimated distance of the quartet of interacting galaxies, this field of view spans about 500,000 light-years. But moving just beyond this field, up and to the right, astronomers can identify another galaxy, NGC 7320C, that is also 300 million light-years distant. Including it would bring the interacting quartet back up to quintet status.
Tomorrow's picture: five in a row
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-17 12:30:02.099660
2021-12-17T18:30:02Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 17
Geminid of the North
Image Credit & Copyright: Alvin WuExplanation: An arid expanse of the Tengger Desert in north-central China, planet Earth fills the foreground of this starry scene. A widefield panoramic view, it was recorded shortly after moonset in the local predawn hours of December 14. Pictured in the still dark sky, stars of the northern winter hexagon surround a luminous Milky Way. Seen near the peak of the annual meteor shower, the startling flash of a bright Geminid fireball meteor was also captured on that night. Above the western horizon and just below bright star Capella, its dagger-like trail points back to the meteor shower's radiant in Gemini. Of course, the constellation Gemini is easy to spot. Its twin bright stars, bluish Castor and yellowish Pollux are near top center in the frame.
Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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PięknieAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-16 12:30:02.016735
2021-12-16T18:30:03Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 16
Geminids of the South
Image Credit & Copyright: Fefo BouvierExplanation: Fireflies flash along a moonlit countryside in this scene taken on the night of December 13/14 from southern Uruguay, planet Earth. On that night meteors fell in the partly cloudy skies above during the annual Geminid meteor shower. Frames recorded over a period of 1.5 hours are aligned in the composite image made with the camera facing south. That direction was opposite the shower's radiant toward the north and so the Geminid meteor streaks appear to converge at an antiradiant below the southern horizon. The shower's apparent radiant (and antiradiant) is just due to perspective though. As Earth sweeps through the dust trail of mysterious asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the dust grains that create the Geminid shower meteors are really moving along parallel tracks. They enter Earth's atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second.
Tomorrow's picture: Geminids of the North
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-14 12:30:01.611242
2021-12-14T18:30:02Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 14
HH 666: Carina Dust Pillar with Jet
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing & Copyright: Mehmet Hakan ÖzsaraçExplanation: To some, it may look like a beehive. In reality, the featured image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures a cosmic pillar of dust, over two-light years long, inside of which is Herbig-Haro 666 -- a young star emitting powerful jets. The structure lies within one of our galaxy's largest star forming regions, the Carina Nebula, shining in southern skies at a distance of about 7,500 light-years. The pillar's layered outline are shaped by the winds and radiation of Carina's young, hot, massive stars, some of which are still forming inside the nebula. A dust-penetrating view in infrared light better shows the two, narrow, energetic jets blasting outward from a still hidden infant star.
Open Science: Browse 2,600+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
Tomorrow's picture: triangle surprise
< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Cosmos amazingAstronomy Picture of the Day for 2021-12-13 12:30:02.014504
2021-12-13T18:30:02Z via PyPump To: Public
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.
2021 December 13
Meteors and Auroras over Iceland
Image Credit & Copyright: James Boardman-Woodend; Annotation: Judy SchmidtExplanation: What's going on behind that mountain? Quite a bit. First of all, the mountain itself, named Kirkjufell, is quite old and located in western Iceland near the town of Grundarfjörður. In front of the steeply-sloped structure lies a fjord that had just begun to freeze when the above image was taken -- in mid-December of 2012. Although quite faint to the unaided eye, the beautiful colors of background aurorae became quite apparent on the 25-second exposure. What makes this image of particular note, though, is that it also captures streaks from the Geminids meteor shower -- meteors that might not have been evident were the aurora much brighter. Far in the distance, on the left, is the band of our Milky Way Galaxy, while stars from our local part of the Milky Way appear spread across the background. Tonight the Geminids meteor shower peaks again and may well provide sky enthusiasts with their own memorable visual experiences.
Tomorrow's picture: hidden jet
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