**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
03 September 2024
**Quarter Moon and Sister Stars**
Image Credit & Copyright:
Alan Dyer,
TWAN
Nine days ago, two quite different sky icons were imaged rising together. Specifically, Earth's Moon shared the eastern sky with the sister stars of the Pleiades cluster, as viewed from Alberta, Canada. Astronomical images of the well-known Pleiades often show the star cluster's alluring blue reflection nebulas, but here they are washed-out by the orange moonrise sky. The half-lit Moon, known as a quarter moon, is overexposed, although the outline of the dim lunar night side can be seen by illuminating earthshine, light first reflected from the Earth. The featured image is a composite of eight successive exposures with brightnesses adjusted to match what the human eye would see. The Moon passes nearly -- or directly -- in front of the Pleaides once a month.
#APOD #SpaceMission #Meteorology #StarFormation #SpaceDiscovery
Image Credit & Copyright:
Alan Dyer,
TWAN
Nine days ago, two quite different sky icons were imaged rising together. Specifically, Earth's Moon shared the eastern sky with the sister stars of the Pleiades cluster, as viewed from Alberta, Canada. Astronomical images of the well-known Pleiades often show the star cluster's alluring blue reflection nebulas, but here they are washed-out by the orange moonrise sky. The half-lit Moon, known as a quarter moon, is overexposed, although the outline of the dim lunar night side can be seen by illuminating earthshine, light first reflected from the Earth. The featured image is a composite of eight successive exposures with brightnesses adjusted to match what the human eye would see. The Moon passes nearly -- or directly -- in front of the Pleaides once a month.
#APOD #SpaceMission #Meteorology #StarFormation #SpaceDiscovery
APOD: 2024 September 3 – Quarter Moon and Sister Stars
A different astronomy and space science
related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
Image Credit & Copyright:
Andrea Vanoni
Why is there a triangle hovering over the Sun? Although the shape is unusual, the type of structure is not: it is part of an evolving solar prominence. Looping magnetic fields on the Sun channel the flow of energetic particles, sometimes holding glowing gaseous structures aloft for months. A prominence glows brightly because it contains particularly hot, dense, or opaque solar plasma. The surprising triangular structure occurred last week. Larger than our Earth, the iconic prominence was imaged by several solar photographers and documented by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory to form and violently dissipate in about a day. The featured image was captured in a color of red light emitted strongly by hydrogen. Below, solar fibrils carpet the Sun's chromosphere, while the background sky is so faint in comparison that no stars are visible. Our Sun's surface has been quite active this year.
#APOD #Research #MilkyWay #Stargazing #StarFormation
Image Credit & Copyright:
Francisco Sojuel
Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn't -- what is pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon. The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible by reflected Earthlight, known as Da Vinci glow. The Sun directly illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019 December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan towns are visible behind the huge volcano Pacaya. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #Astrobiology #SpaceStation #NASA #CosmicWonders
Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Mandel
Galaxies of the NGC 7771 Group are featured in this intriguing skyscape. Some 200 million light-years distant toward the constellation Pegasus, NGC 7771 is the large, edge-on spiral near center, about 75,000 light-years across, with two smaller galaxies below it. Large spiral NGC 7769 is seen face-on to the right. Galaxies of the NGC 7771 group are interacting, making repeated close passages that will ultimately result in galaxy-galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The interactions can be traced by distortions in the shape of the galaxies themselves and faint streams of stars created by their mutual gravitational tides. But a clear view of this galaxy group is difficult to come by as the deep image also reveals extensive clouds of foreground dust sweeping across the field of view. The dim, dusty galactic cirrus clouds are known as Integrated Flux Nebulae. The faint IFN reflect starlight from our own Milky Way Galaxy and lie only a few hundred light-years above the galactic plane.
#APOD #SpaceResearch #Astrophoto #PlanetaryExploration #Astrofans
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
The Moon's south pole is toward the top left of this detailed telescopic moonscape. Captured on August 23, it looks across the rugged southern lunar highlands. The view's foreshortened perspective heightens the impression of a dense field of craters and makes the craters themselves appear more oval shaped close to the lunar limb. Prominent near center is 114 kilometer diameter crater Moretus. Moretus is young for a large lunar crater and features terraced inner walls and a 2.1 kilometer high, central peak, similar in appearance to the more northerly young crater Tycho. Mountains visible along the lunar limb at the top can rise about 6 kilometers or so above the surrounding terrain. Close to the lunar south pole, permanently shadowed crater floors with expected reservoirs of water-ice have made the rugged south polar region of the Moon a popular target for exploration.
#APOD #Stargazing #Astrophotography #RocketScience #RocketScience