APOD
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.


Planets Over Easter Island
Explanation: It isn't every day that planets line up behind a stone giant. For one thing, it helps to have a good planet line-up , such as occurred in the sky just last month. For another, it helps to be on Easter Island , where over 800 large stone statues exist. The Easter Island statues , stand, on the average, over twice as tall as a person and have over 200 times as much mass. Few specifics are known about the history or meaning of the unusual statues , but many believe that they were created about 500 years ago in the images of local leaders of a lost civilization. Pictured above, the Moon , Venus , and Mars can be seen behind Ahu Tahai , a famous Easter Island statue. The bright star Aldebaran is also visible.
| Date | May 24, 2004 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit & Copyright: Magnus Galfalk ( Stockholm Observatory ) |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |


