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Credit & Copyright: Benjamin Barakat
Explanation:
Real castles aren't this old.
And the background galaxy is even older.
Looking a bit like an alien castle, the pictured rock spires are called
hoodoos and are likely millions of years old.
Rare, but found around the world,
hoodoos
form when dense rocks slow the
erosion of
softer rock underneath.
The
pictured hoodoos survive in the
French Alps and are named
Demoiselles
Coifföes -- which translates to English as
"Ladies with Hairdos".
The background galaxy is part of the central
disk of our own
Milky Way galaxy and contains
stars that are typically billions of years old.
The photogenic
Cygnus sky region -- rich in
dusty
dark clouds and red
glowing nebulas --
appears just above and behind the hoodoos.
The featured image
was taken in two stages: the foreground was captured during the evening
blue hour,
while the background was acquired from the same location later that night.
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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: Milky Way
Publications with words: Milky Way
See also:
- APOD: 2024 July 22 Á Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
- APOD: 2024 May 29 Á Stairway to the Milky Way
- APOD: 2023 December 12 Á Aurora and Milky Way over Norway
- Milky Way Rising
- APOD: 2023 July 18 Á Milky Way above La Palma Observatory
- APOD: 2023 July 16 Á Meteor and Milky Way over the Alps
- APOD: 2023 July 2 Á Milky Way and Aurora over Antarctica