Friday, July 31, 2015

APOD: The Milky Way Over Uluru


This fantastic image popped up on Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) earlier this week. The photo, captured by Babak Tafreshi, shows the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy rising above Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Northern Territory, Australia. Here is the text that was posted along with the image at APOD:

"The central regions of our Milky Way Galaxy rise above Uluru/Ayers Rock in this striking night skyscape. Recorded on July 13, a faint airglow along the horizon shows off central Australia's most recognizable landform in silhouette. Of course the Milky Way's own cosmic dust clouds appear in silhouette too, dark rifts along the galaxy's faint congeries of stars. Above the central bulge, rivers of cosmic dust converge on a bright yellowish supergiant star Antares. Left of Antares, wandering Saturn shines in the night."

APOD is a wonderful site where you can find some of the best astrophotography and astronomy-relevant images on the internet. I check it out every morning. Something about images of Uluru especially draw up thoughts of the mystic and merge beautifully with the background of the heavens at night. For instance, here is another APOD pic of Uluru taken by Vic and Jen Winter. It was posted back in 2002 and shows the annual Leonids Meteor Shower radiating from the heavens around Uluru.


I highly recommend checking out APOD on a regular basis for images like these and far more!


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