Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2019 September 27 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Annotated Galactic Center Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Miguel Claro ([5]TWAN, [6]Dark Sky Alqueva) Explanation: [7]The center of our Milky Way galaxy can be found some 26,000 light-years away toward the constellation [8]Sagittarius. Even on a dark night, you can't really see it though. [9]Gaze in that direction, and your sight-line is quickly obscured by intervening interstellar dust. In fact, dark dust clouds, glowing nebulae, and crowded starfieds are packed along the fertile galactic plane and central regions of our galaxy. This annotated view, a mosaic of dark sky images, highlights [10]some favorites, particularly for small telescope or binocular equipped skygazers. The cropped version puts the direction to the galactic center on the far right. It identifies well-known Messier objects like the Lagoon nebula (M8), the Trifid (M20), [11]star cloud M24, and some of E.E. Barnard's [12]dark markings on the sky. A full version extends the view to the right toward the constellation Scorpius, in all covering over 20 degrees [13]across the center of the Milky Way. Tomorrow's picture: analemma of the sun __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1909/MilkyWay-CorePanorama_8738-Cr-Anno.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.miguelclaro.com/wp/ 5. http://www.twanight.org/claro 6. http://www.darkskyalqueva.com/ 7. https://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2018/gcenter360/ 8. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/sgr/ 9. https://astrobob.areavoices.com/2014/07/22/how-to-find-the-center-of-the-milky-way-and-what-lurks-there/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170727.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180629.html 12. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1919ApJ....49....1B/abstract 13. https://www.miguelclaro.com/wp/?portfolio=the-starry-dusty-field-from-the-core-of-milky-way-galaxy 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190926.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190927 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190928.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. http://www.mtu.edu/