                         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.

                                  2019 May 11
                                      [2]
                        Milky Way, Launch, and Landing
                Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Devin Boggs [4]

Explanation: The Milky Way doesn't look quite this colorful and bright to the
eye, but a rocket launch does. So a separate deep exposure with a sensitive
digital camera was used in this composite skyscape to bring out our galaxy's
central crowded starfields and cosmic dust clouds. In the scene from Merritt
Island National Wildlife Refuge, a nine minute long exposure begun about 20
minutes after the Miky Way image recorded a rocket launch [5]  and landing [6]
. The Falcon 9 rocket, named for the Millennium Falcon of Star Wars fame,
appropriately launched a Dragon resupply ship [7]  to the International Space
Station in the early morning hours of May the 4th. The plume and flare at the
peak of the launch arc mark the rocket's first stage boost back burn. Two
shorter diagonal streaks are the rocket engines bringing the Falcon 9 stage
back to an offshore landing on autonomous drone ship Of course I Still Love
You [8] .

                Tomorrow's picture: Iceland, Ash, and Lightning

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [20] (MTU [21] ) & Jerry Bonnell [22]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1905/crs17spaceXboggs.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] mailto: BOGGSD [at] my [dot] erau [dot] edu
  [5] ap180704.html
  [6] https://www.flickr.com/photos/spacex/47593269202/
  [7] https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/
spacex-dragon-heads-to-space-station-with-nasa-science-cargo
  [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ List_of_spacecraft_in_the_Culture_series
  [9] ap190510.html
  [10] archivepix.html
  [11] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [12] lib/aptree.html
  [13] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [14] calendar/allyears.html
  [15] /apod.rss
  [16] lib/edlinks.html
  [17] lib/about_apod.html
  [18] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190511
  [19] ap190512.html
  [20] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [21] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [22] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [23] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [24] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [25] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [26] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [27] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [28] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [29] http://www.mtu.edu/
