5400 x 3099 px | 45,7 x 26,2 cm | 18 x 10,3 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
16 maggio 2016
Altre informazioni:
A 160° panorama showing: - the Zodiacal Light (at right in the west) - the Milky Way (up from the centre, in the south, to the upper right) - the Zodiacal Band (faintly visible running across the frame at top) - the Gegenschein (a brightening of the Zodiacal Band at left of frame in the east in Leo) Along the Milky Way are dark lanes of interstellar dust, aprticularly in Taurus above and to the right of Orion. Red nebulas of glowing gas also lie along the Milky Way, such as Barnard’s Loop around Orion. The Zodiacal Light, Band and Gegenschein all lie along the ecliptic, as do Mars, Venus and Jupiter shown here. Orion is at centre, in the south, with Canis Major and the bright star Sirius below and to the left of Orion. Canopus is just setting on the southern horizon at centre. To the right of Orion is Taurus and the Pleiader star cluster at the top of the Zodiacal Light pyramid. Venus is the bright object in the Zodiacal Light at right, in the west, while fainter Mars is below Venus. At far right at the frame edge, in the northwest, is the Andromeda Galaxy, M31. Jupiter is the bright object at upper left, in the east, in the Zodiacal Band, and near the Beehive star cluster. The Zodiacal Light, Band and Gegenschein are caused by sunlight reflecting off cometary and meteoric dust in the inner solar system. The Gegenschein, or “counterglow, ” can be seen with the naked eye but is a subtle and diffuse brightening of the sky in the spot opposite the Sun. It is caused by sunlight reflecting directly back from comet dust, with the effect greatest at the point opposite the Sun. Glows like the Zodiacal Light require reasonably dark skies, but the fainter Zodiacal Band and Gegenschein require very dark skies. Glows on the horizon are from distant SIlver City, Las Cruces and El Paso. The brighter sky at right is from the last vestiges of evening twilight. Some green and red airglow bands also permeate the sky. I shot this March 10, 2015 from the summit
