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Credit & Copyright: Andy Steere
Explanation:
There are more than a few stars in our Galaxy.
The light from many of them combines to appear as a wisp of faint
light across the night sky - the Milky Way.
In the northern hemisphere, away from city lights
and during the summer months, part of the Milky Way
can be seen behind the Summer Triangle
of stars - Deneb,
Vega,
and Altair.
These are the brightest three stars in the above photograph,
listed from left to right, respectively. If you could collect
light in your eyes for 10 minutes at a time (instead of the usual
1/10th of a second), you might see something like the
above photograph.
Behind the Summer Triangle
lies some of the vast star fields
of our Milky Way Galaxy, containing
literally billions
of stars. The dark band across the middle that seems to divide
the stars is actually interstellar dust,
which absorbs more visible light than it emits and so appears
dark.
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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: Summer Triangle - Milky Way
Publications with words: Summer Triangle - Milky Way
See also:
- APOD: 2024 November 24 Á Journey to the Center of the Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 November 5 Á Milky Way over Easter Island
- APOD: 2024 August 4 Á Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
- APOD: 2024 July 29 Á Milky Way over Uluru
- APOD: 2024 May 29 Á Stairway to the Milky Way
- APOD: 2023 December 12 Á Aurora and Milky Way over Norway
- Milky Way Rising