                        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.

                              2021 December 21

                         Solstice Sun and Milky Way
           Composite Image Credit & Copyright: Stefan Seip (TWAN)

   Explanation: Welcome to December's solstice, first day of winter in the
   north and summer for the southern hemisphere. Astronomical markers of
   the seasons, solstice and equinox dates are based on the Sun's place in
   its annual journey along the ecliptic, through planet Earth's sky. At
   this solstice, the Sun reaches its maximum southern declination of
   -23.5 degrees today at 15:59 UTC, while its right ascension coordinate
   on the celestial sphere is 18 hours. That puts the Sun in the
   constellation Sagittarius in a direction near the center of our Milky
   Way galaxy. In fact, if you could see today's Solstice Sun against
   faint background stars and nebulae (that's really hard to do,
   especially in the daytime ...) your view might look something like this
   composited panorama. To make it, images of our fair galaxy were taken
   under dark Namibian night skies, then stitched together in a panoramic
   view. From a snapshot made on 2015 December 21, the Sun was digitally
   overlayed as a brilliant star at today's northern winter solstice
   position, close to the center of the Milky Way.

   Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD
                        Tomorrow's picture: X launch
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

