                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                              2018 September 29
                                      [2]
                            55 Nights with Saturn
          Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Tunc Tezel [4] (TWAN [5] )

Explanation: For 55 consecutive nights [6] Mediterranean skies were at least
partly clear this summer, from the 1st of July to the 24th of August 2018. An
exposure from each night was incorporated in this composited telephoto and
telescopic image to follow bright planet Saturn [7]  as it wandered [8]
through the generous evening skies. Through August [9] , the outer planet's
seasonal apparent retrograde motion [10] slowed and drifted to the right,
framed by a starry background. That brought it near the line-of-sight to the
central Milky Way, and the beautiful Lagoon (M8) and Trifid (20) nebulae. Of
course Saturn's largest moon Titan [11]  was also along for the ride. Swinging
around the gas giant in a 16 day long orbit, Titan's resulting wave-like
motion is easier to spot when the almost-too-bright Saturn is digitally edited
from the scene [12] .

                  Tomorrow's picture: strangely placed star

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [24] (MTU [25] ) & Jerry Bonnell [26]
                                  (UMCP [27] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [28] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [29]
              A service of: ASD [30]  at NASA [31]  / GSFC [32]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [33]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1809/Saturn2018hd.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] http://www.twanight.org/tezel
  [5] http://www.twanight.org/
  [6] https://vimeo.com/291266800
  [7] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/saturn/overview/
  [8] ap180412.html
  [9] ap180811.html
  [10] ap160915.html
  [11] ap180818.html
  [12] image/1809/Saturn2018Titan1067.jpg
  [13] ap180928.html
  [14] archivepix.html
  [15] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [16] lib/aptree.html
  [17] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [18] calendar/allyears.html
  [19] /apod.rss
  [20] lib/edlinks.html
  [21] lib/about_apod.html
  [22] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=180929
  [23] ap180930.html
  [24] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [25] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [26] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [27] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [28] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [29] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [30] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [31] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [32] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [33] http://www.mtu.edu/
