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.

2007 August 14
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
 the highest resolution version available.

A Spectacular Sky Over the Grand Tetons
Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics.com); Image Processing: Tony Hallas

Explanation: Behold the breathtaking beauty of Earth and sky together. In the foreground is the Teton Mountain Range of Wyoming, USA. The Grand Tetons are a relatively isolated set of high peaks that are part of the Rocky Mountains. On the far left, vast clouds of bright stars and dark dust are visible in the nearly vertical plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Our Galactic Plane appears to crash into the Tetons, but is actually far more distant. On the left, just to the left of the southernmost Teton peak, the planet Jupiter is visible. Near the image center is the bright star Arcturus. Scrolling to the far right will bring over the familiar asterism of the Big Dipper. Last month it took five images, later digitally fused, to capture the majesty of this panoramic view.

Tomorrow's picture: open space


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