Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos!
Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is
featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2020 September 7

The Milky Way over St Michael’s Mount

Image Credit:
Simon R. Hudson

Explanation:
Where do land and sky converge?

On every
horizon — but in this case the path on the ground leads to
St Michael’s Mount (Cornish: Karrek Loos yn Koos),
a small historic island in
Cornwall,
England.

The Mount is usually surrounded by shallow water, but at low
tide is spanned by a human-constructed causeway.

The path on the sky, actually the central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy, also appears to lead to
St Michael’s Mount,
but really lies far in the distance.

The red nebula in the Milky Way, just above the
castle,
is the Lagoon Nebula, while bright
Jupiter shines to the left, and a luminous
meteor flashes to the right.

The foreground and background images of
this featured composite were taken on the same July night and from the same location.

Although meteors are fleeting and the
Milky Way disk shifts in the night
as the Earth turns, Jupiter will remain
prominent in the sunset sky
into December.

Moon Occults Mars:
Notable images submitted to APOD
Tomorrow’s picture: unexpected black holes collide

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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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