Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

February 26, 1998
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A Southern Sky View
Credit and Copyright: G. Garradd

Explanation: From horizon to horizon, the night sky above Loomberah, New South Wales, Australia was photographed by astronomer Gordon Garradd on March 22, 1996. Garradd used a home made all-sky camera with a fish-eye lens, resulting in a circular 200 degree field of view. This gorgeous sky view is dominated by the luminous band of the Milky Way cut by dramatic, dark interstellar dust clouds. Along with the bright stars of our Galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud is visible at the upper right (about 1 o'clock) and the long, lovely, bluish tail of comet Hyakutake can be seen toward the bottom of the image, near the bright star Arcturus. Bright city lights from nearby Tamworth glow along the Northwestern horizon.

Tomorrow's picture: Eclipse View


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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
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&: Michigan Tech. U.