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.

2019 December 26
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

The Northern Winter Hexagon
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek

Explanation: December's New Moon brought a solar eclipse to some for the holiday season. It also gave beautiful dark night skies to skygazers around the globe, like this moonless northern winter night. In the snowy scene, bright stars of the Winter Hexagon along the Milky Way rise above cosy cabins near Oravska Lesna, Slovakia. The shining celestial beacons marking the well-known asterism are Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux (and Castor), Procyon, Rigel, and Sirius. The deep exposure also reveals faint nebulae in Orion, and the lovely Pleiades star cluster.

Free Presentation: APOD Editor to show best astronomy images of 2019 -- and the decade -- in NYC on January 3
Tomorrow's picture: a beautiful Trifid

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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