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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.

The featured image shows a landscape of narrow triangular rocks below a night sky that features the band of the Milky Way arching overhead. Connecting the land to the sky is a bright of diffuse zodiacal light. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.The featured image shows a landscape of narrow triangular rocks below a night sky that features the band of the Milky Way arching overhead. Connecting the land to the sky is a bright of diffuse zodiacal light. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way and Zodiacal Light over Australian Pinnacles

Explanation: What strange world is this? E a r t h . In the foreground of the featured image are the Pinnacles , unusual rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia . Made of ancient sea shells ( limestone ), how these human-sized picturesque spires formed remains a topic of research . The picturesque panorama was taken in 2017 September. A ray of zodiacal light , sunlight reflected by dust grains orbiting between the planets in the Solar System , rises from the horizon near the image center. Arching across the top is the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy . The planets Jupiter and Saturn , as well as several famous stars are also visible in the background night sky.

Date October 23, 2022
Credit Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.