A Cosmic Triangle
Explanation:
It was an astronomical triple play.
Setting on the left, just after sunset near the end of last month, was
our Moon --
showing a bright crescent phase.
Setting on the right was
Venus,
the brightest planet in the evening sky last month -- and
this month, too.
With a small telescope, you could tell that
Venus' phase was half, meaning that only half of the planet,
as visible from
Earth,
was exposed to direct sunlight and brightly lit.
High above and much further in the distance was the
Pleiades star cluster.
Although the Moon and Venus move with respect to the
background stars,
the Pleiades do not -- because they
are background
stars.
In the beginning of this month, Venus appeared to move
right in front of
the Pleiades,
a rare event that happens only
once every eight years.
The featured image captured
this cosmic triangle with a series of exposures taken from the same camera over
70 minutes
near Avonlea,
Saskatchewan,
Canada.
The positions of the celestial objects
was predicted.
The only thing unpredicted
was the existence of the
foreground tree --
and the astrophotographer is still unsure what type of tree that is.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
