Astronomy Picture of the Day -- A Morning Line of Stars and Planets

NASA ^ | July 11, 2012 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Early morning dog walkers got a visual treat last week as bright stars and planets appeared to line up. Pictured above, easily visible from left to right, were the Pleiades open star cluster, Jupiter, Venus, and the "Follower" star Aldebaran, all seen before a starry background. The image was taken from the Atacama desert in western South America. The glow of the rising Sun can be seen over the eastern horizon. Jupiter and Venus will continue to dazzle pre-dawn strollers all over planet Earth for the rest of the month, although even now the morning planets are seen projected away from the line connecting their distant stellar sky mates.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution for Science)]

[SunkenCiv]

Astrophysicists: Browse the Astrophysics Source Code Library (450+ codes each ADS listed)

join or quit list APoD 'blog post new APoD topic Astronomy Picture of the Day topic & keyword Astronomy Chat, Bloggers & keyword Science Chat, Bloggers & keyword NASA's APoD archive Calendar 1995-present APoD on your desktop

[left that other site]

Eek! UFOs!!!!!!!!!!

:-)

[rarestia]

Yes, for those early-morning dog watchers in the Atacama desert, it’s quite a treat.

For those of us nearer to civilization, light pollution generally erases the Pleiades, among others in that panorama.

[TheOldLady]

Oooooh! What a SHOW! The stars and planets are in alignment, and maybe we’ll get rid of zer0 after all!