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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.

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

Frosted Leaf Orion

Explanation: Sometimes, you can put some night sky in your art. Captured above Japan earlier this month, a picturesque night sky was photographed behind a picturesque frosted leaf. The reflecting ice crystals on the leaf coolly mimic the shining stars far in the background. The particular background sky on this 48-second wide angle exposure , however, might appear quite interesting and familiar. On the far left, although hard to find, appears a streaking meteor . Below and to the right of the meteor appears a longer and brighter streak of an airplane. The bright star on the left is the dog-star Sirius , the brightest star on the night sky. To Sirius' right appears the constellation of Orion , including the three linear belt stars below the red giant Betelgeuse . The bright patch of light further to the right is the Pleiades open star cluster . Similar views including the constellation Orion can be seen above much of the northern hemisphere for the next several months, although you might have to provide your own leaf.

Challenge: Can you identify what type of leaf was imaged?

Date November 17, 2010
Credit Credit & Copyright: Masahiro Miyasaka
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.