Astronomy Picture of the Day - Stairway to the Milky Way

NASA ^ | 29 May, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: What happens if you ascend this stairway to the Milky Way? Before answering that, let's understand the beautiful sky you will see. Most eye-catching is the grand arch of the Milky Way Galaxy, the band that is the central disk of our galaxy which is straight but distorted by the wide-angle nature of this composite image. Many stars well in front of the Milk Way will be visible, with the bright white star just below the stellar arch being Altair, and the bright blue star above it being Vega. The air glows green on the left, just above the yellow cloud deck. The featured image was taken last month on Portugal's Madeira Island in the North Atlantic Ocean. Oh, and what happens after you reach the top of these stairs and admire the amazing sky is, quite probably, that you then descend down the stairs on the other side.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

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[Red Badger]

I see a candy bar, and ancient computer, a cheap Chevrolet and an atmospheric phenomenon..............

[Red Badger]

....and bottle of cheap wine................

[Magnum44]

[Red Badger]

[telescope115]

In the hi-def version at NASA’s website, you can see just below Vega(at the top), below and to the left, two stars close together. They are Upsilon Lyrae, in the constellation Lyra. Those two stars are each double stars. There are actually two pairs of stars, each pair revolving around each other, and each pair is revolving around the other, making it a quadruple star system.

Easily seen in a 4” telescope.