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> Summer Milky Way, Halley's Comet, Zodiacal Light

Summer Milky Way, Halley's Comet, Zodiacal Light

author: J.Lodriguss/Novapix

reference: a-vlc01-00012

Image Size 300 DPI: 24 * 16 cm

The Milky Way is our own galaxy viewed from the inside. It is a vast collection of more than 200 billion stars, planets, nebulae, clusters, dust and gas. Our own sun and solar system are also part of the Milky Way galaxy. Seen as a luminous band of light and star clouds that stretch across the night sky, the brighter star clouds of the Milky Way are frequently mistaken for real Earth-bound clouds by observers who are unfamiliar with their appearance. Sometimes interrupted by dark nebulae and rifts, these star clouds are actually innumerable unresolved faint stars. From a really dark location, the Milky Way is even bright enough to cast shadows. The central bulge of the Milky Way, the brightest and most spectacular portion, is visible here in the Sagittarius - Scorpius region. Vega and Lyra are at upper left in this photo, and Alpha and Beta Centauri (Rigel-Kentaurus and Hadar respectively) are the two brightest stars at the right at the end of a dark rift in the Milky Way. The brightest star cloud in the photo is the large Sagittarius star cloud, seen almost in the center of the photo. Numerous red emission nebula, clouds of glowing gas in space are seen sprinkled throughout the image, as well as dark nebula, clouds of non-luminous dust that obscure the stars behind them, such as the great rift in the Milky Way at left. Also visible in this photo is the Zodiacal Light, seen as a faint, low contrast, triangle of light at the lower left pointing towards the center of the frame. It is more easily seen here if you do not look directly at the photo, sort of like using averted vision while observing with a telescope. Halley's Comet is also visible above the dark rift that ends at Alpha Centauri.

Keywords for this photo:

1986 - ASTRONOMY - COMET - HALLEY - MILKY WAY - SAGITTARIUS - SCORPIUS - SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE - STAR - ZODIACAL LIGHT -