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. 2021 January 1 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Galaxies and the South Celestial Pole Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Petr Horalek, Josef Kujal Explanation: [5]The South Celestial Pole is easy to spot in star trail images of the southern sky. The extension of Earth's axis of rotation to the south, it's at the center of all the southern star trail arcs. [6]In this starry panorama streching about 60 degrees across deep southern skies the South Celestial Pole is somewhere near the middle though, flanked by bright galaxies and southern celestial gems. Across the top of the frame are the stars and nebulae along the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Gamma Crucis, a yellowish giant star [7]heads the Southern Cross near top center, with the dark expanse of the Coalsack nebula tucked under the cross arm on the left. Eta Carinae and the reddish glow of the Great Carina Nebula shine along the galactic plane near the right edge. At the bottom are the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, [8]external galaxies in their own right and satellites of the mighty Milky Way. A line from Gamma Crucis through the blue star at the bottom of the southern cross, Alpha Crucis, points toward the South Celestial Pole, but where exactly is it? [9]Just look for south pole star [10]Sigma Octantis. Analog to Polaris the north pole star, Sigma Octantis is little over one degree fom the [11]the South Celestial pole. Tomorrow's picture: apollo's muse __________________________________________________________________ [12]< | [13]Archive | [14]Submissions | [15]Index | [16]Search | [17]Calendar | [18]RSS | [19]Education | [20]About APOD | [21]Discuss | [22]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [23]Robert Nemiroff ([24]MTU) & [25]Jerry Bonnell ([26]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [27]Specific rights apply. [28]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [29]ASD at [30]NASA / [31]GSFC & [32]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/2020_12_16_Kujal_Jizni_Pol_1500px-3.png 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?page_id=20 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120802.html 6. https://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?p=22285 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190426.html 8. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_galaxy_info.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/Milkyway_Musca_SPSackenheim1024Labr.jpg 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180628.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap061202.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201231.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 16. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 21. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210101 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210102.html 23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 26. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 28. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 29. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 30. https://www.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 32. http://www.mtu.edu/