Eye on the Milky Way
Explanation:
Have you ever had
stars in your
eyes?
It appears that the eye on the left does, and moreover it appears to be gazing at
even more stars.
The
featured
27-frame mosaic was taken last July from
Ojas de Salar in the
Atacama Desert of
Chile.
The eye is actually a small
lagoon captured reflecting the
dark night sky as the Milky Way Galaxy arched overhead.
The seemingly smooth band of the
Milky Way is really composed of billions of stars, but decorated with filaments
of light-absorbing dust and
red-glowing nebulas.
Additionally, both
Jupiter
(slightly left the galactic arch) and
Saturn
(slightly to the right) are visible.
The lights of small towns dot the unusual vertical horizon.
The
rocky terrain around the
lagoon appears to some more like the surface of
Mars than our
Earth.
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.
