                        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.

                               2022 August 17

                             Stargate Milky Way
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Maxime Oudoux

   Explanation: There is a huge gate of stars in the sky, and you pass
   through it twice a day. The stargate is actually our Milky Way Galaxy,
   and it is the spin of the Earth that appears to propel you through it.
   More typically, the central band of our Milky Way appears as a faint
   band stretching across the sky, only visible in away from bright city
   lights. In a long-exposure wide-angle image from a dark location like
   this, though, the Milky Way's central plane is easily visible. The
   featured picture is a digital composite involving multiple exposures
   taken on the same night and with the same camera, but employing a
   stereographic projection that causes the Milky Way to appear as a giant
   circular portal. Inside the stargate-like arc of our Galaxy is a faint
   stripe called zodiacal light -- sunlight reflected by dust in our Solar
   System. In the foreground are cacti and dry rocks found in the rough
   terrain of the high desert of Chile, not far from the El Sauce
   Observatory and the developing Vera Rubin Observatory, the latter
   expected to begin routine operations in 2024.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

