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Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip
(TWAN)
Explanation:
Welcome to
December's solstice, first day of winter in the north and
summer for the southern hemisphere.
Astronomical markers of the seasons,
solstice
and equinox dates are based
on the Sun's place in its annual journey along the ecliptic,
through planet Earth's sky.
At this solstice, the Sun reaches its maximum southern
declination of -23.5 degrees today at 16:28 UTC, while
its right ascension coordinate on the
celestial sphere
is 18 hours.
That puts the Sun in the constellation Sagittarius in a direction near
the center of our Milky Way galaxy.
In fact, if you could see today's Solstice Sun against faint background
stars and nebulae (that's really hard to do, especially in the daytime ...)
your view might look something like this composited panorama.
To make it, images of
our fair galaxy
were taken under dark Namibian night skies, then stitched together
in a panoramic view.
From a snapshot made on December 21, 2015, the Sun was digitally
overlayed as a brilliant star at today's northern winter
solstice position, close to the center of
the Milky Way.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: solstice - Milky Way
Publications with words: solstice - Milky Way
See also: