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Credit & Copyright: Roger A. Hopkins
Explanation:
Only a few stars can be
found within ten light-years of our lonely Sun,
situated near
an outer spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy.
But if
the Sun were found within
one of our galaxy's
star
clusters, thousands of stars might occupy a similar space.
What
would the night sky look like in such a densely packed stellar
neighborhood?
When Roger Hopkins took this picture at the
Montezuma
National Wildlife Refuge
in the Finger Lakes region of western New York, USA, he was
struck by this same notion.
Appropriately, he had photographed
a flock
of starlings against the
backdrop of a serene sunset.
He then manipulated the image so that the black
bird silhouettes were changed to white.
The final
picture dramatically suggests the
tantalizing spectacle of approaching night in crowded
skies above a
cluster
star world.
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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: sunset - star cluster - globular cluster - planet
Publications with words: sunset - star cluster - globular cluster - planet
See also: