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> Milky way all around the horizon and Gegenschein
Milky way all around the horizon and Gegenschein
author: S.Guisard/Novapix
reference: a-vlc01-00068
Image Size 300 DPI: 33 * 33 cm
The following image was taken at new Moon (No Moon light), middle of the night (minimum zodiacal light effect), in the Atacama desert close to Paranal observatory (no light pollution). The chosen place for this picture has the particularity to be located at a latitude which value is close to the declination of the galactic southern pole. The picture was therefore also taken when the galactic pole passes at zenith, ensuring that there is no Milky Way up in the sky. When all these conditions are met, being very close to what the "darkest" sky could be, the very faint Gegenschein becomes visible. Like the zodiacal light, the gegenschein is sunlight reflected by interplanetary dust. Most of this dust is orbiting the sun in about the ecliptic plane. The Gegenschein is clearly visible covering most of the right side of the picture. The Large (LMC) and Small (SMC) Magellanic clouds are visible to the left, Orion constellation with Barnard loop to the top, California Nebula and 'tiny' Andromeda galaxy to the right while the Milky Way is visible all around the image on the horizon line. Bright jupiter is visible near the center of the image and bright red Eta Carina Nebula is rising on the horizon line at the very left.
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