Great Rift Near the Center of the Milky Way
Over 100 telescopic image panels in this stunning vertical mosaic span about 50 degrees across the night sky. They follow part of the Great Rift, the dark river of dust and molecular gas that stretches along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Start at top center and you can follow the galactic equator down through brighter stars in constellations Aquila, Serpens Cauda, and Scutum. At the bottom is Sagittarius near the center of the Milky Way. Along the way you'll encounter many obscuring dark nebulae hundreds of light-years distant flanked by bands of Milky Way starlight, and the telltale reddish glow of starforming regions.
Notable Messier objects include The Eagle (M16) and Omega (M17) nebulae, the Sagittarius Star Cloud (M24), the beautiful Trifid (M20) and the deep Lagoon (M8).
Image & info via APOD
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Image Credit: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (Deep Sky Colors)
#nasa #space #science #milkyway
I’d like to give thanks for this Cosmic Chromosome -
ReplyDeleteThanks for this wondrous turquoise globe that we all call home.
Through our ethereal blue sky comes life-giving light,
Mother Earth protects us from the Interstellar Night.
Such a delicate balance sustains all life –
Make us all aware!
Deliver us from our environmental strife!
We have within our reach, the ability to make the difference…
We could make world peace succeed –
We could live by respect instead of greed.
Our beliefs we hold on High –
For their very existence,
We choose to live and die.
Silly human being, See beyond your grief –
That each and every day is a gift beyond Belief!