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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Milky Way Behind Three Merlons
NASA ^ | 7 Aug, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Donato Lioce; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)

Posted on 08/07/2024 12:57:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: To some, they look like battlements, here protecting us against the center of the Milky Way. The Three Merlons, also called the Three Peaks of Lavaredo, stand tall today because they are made of dense dolomite rock which has better resisted erosion than surrounding softer rock. They formed about 250 million years ago and so are comparable in age with one of the great extinctions of life on Earth. A leading hypothesis is that this great extinction was triggered by an asteroid about 10-km across, larger in size than Mount Everest, impacting the Earth. Humans have gazed up at the stars in the Milky Way and beyond for centuries, making these battlefield-like formations, based in the Sexten Dolomites, a popular place for current and ancient astronomers.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
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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.

1 posted on 08/07/2024 12:57:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 08/07/2024 12:57:29 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; Agatsu77; America_Right; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔


3 posted on 08/07/2024 12:58:10 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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To: MtnClimber

Wow.


4 posted on 08/07/2024 1:46:27 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as)
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To: MtnClimber

Beautiful


5 posted on 08/07/2024 2:42:46 PM PDT by AFB-XYZ (Two options: 1) Stand up, or 2) Bend over)
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To: MtnClimber

Amazing photo, beautifully framed!


6 posted on 08/07/2024 4:54:44 PM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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