May 7, 2016

Gegenschein, Total Lunar Eclipse, Milky Way Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy and Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy

 Gegenschein, Total Lunar Eclipse, Milky Way Galaxy, Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy and Small Magellanic Cloud Galaxy

Is there anything interesting to see in the direction opposite the Sun? In September 2015 ere were quite a few things. First, the red-glowing orb on the lower right of this image is the full Moon, darkened and reddened because it has entered Earth's shadow. Beyond Earth's cone of darkness are backscattering dust particles orbiting the Sun that standout with a diffuse glow called the gegenschein, visible as a faint band rising from the central horizon and passing behind the Moon. A nearly horizontal stripe of green airglow is also discernable just above the horizon, partly blocked by blowing orange sand. Visible in the distant sky as the blue dot near the top of the image is the star Sirius, while the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy arches up on the image left and down again on the right. The fuzzy light patches just left of center are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Red emission nebulas too numerous to mention are scattered about the sky, but are labelled in a companion annotated image.

Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia
September 2015

Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek
Explanation from: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151014.html

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