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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Barnards Loop over Twin Volcanoes
NASA ^ | 28 Jul, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Gonzalo Laserna Vargas

Posted on 07/28/2026 12:21:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: What's connecting these two volcanoes? In ancient folklore, the two volcanoes, Parinacota (left) and Pomerape (right), are connected by representing a mythical prince and princess who engaged in a forbidden romance. Beneath the ground, the two peaks are not known to be connected by a common pool of hot magma, and neither volcano has erupted in the past 1000 years. Above the ground, there is usually nothing in the sky that connects them -- except if you use careful timing and look from a specific location. The featured well-planned image was captured from Bolivia in mid-April with a series of camera exposures taken on the same day and from the same location. Then, Barnard's Loop appeared to connect the volcanic peaks. Also visible in the image is the Orion Nebula in the center, the star Betelgeuse on the right, and the Rosette Nebula on the upper right.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
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To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

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 07/28/2026 12:21:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 07/28/2026 12:21:51 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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3 posted on 07/28/2026 12:22:28 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

đŸȘ 🌟 🌌 🍔

4 posted on 07/28/2026 12:23:17 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Wow...


5 posted on 07/28/2026 12:23:31 PM PDT by Adder ("A pack of jackasses led by a lion is superior to a pack of lions led by a jackass.” GW.)
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To: MtnClimber

Whoa.


6 posted on 07/28/2026 12:26:58 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: MtnClimber

Awesome.


7 posted on 07/28/2026 12:27:07 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: Adder

Yes, wow.


8 posted on 07/28/2026 12:27:14 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: MtnClimber

Just wait. Certain Harvard professors will connect all of this to......... aliens.


9 posted on 07/28/2026 12:30:47 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try. )
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To: MtnClimber

a few more years from now a good portion of society will believe these pics as real... huge disservice to society NASA is doing by posting these on their site...


10 posted on 07/28/2026 12:34:10 PM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
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To: MtnClimber
This legend is similar to the legend of the first two glacier climbs I ever did, in the early 1990's in Mexico to the east of Mexico City, Iztaccíhuatl and Popocatépetl:

In Aztec mythology, IztaccĂ­huatl was a princess who fell in love with one of her father's warriors, PopocatĂ©petl. The emperor sent PopocatĂ©petl to war in Oaxaca, promising him IztaccĂ­huatl as his wife when he returned (which IztaccĂ­huatl's father presumed he would not). IztaccĂ­huatl was falsely told that PopocatĂ©petl had died in battle, and believing the news, she died of grief. When PopocatĂ©petl returned to find his love dead, he took her body to a spot outside Tenochtitlan and kneeled by her grave. The gods covered them with snow and changed them into mountains. IztaccĂ­huatl's mountain is called "Sleeping Woman" (Though the Nahuatl name literally means "White Woman" from iztāc "white" and cihuātl "woman") because it resembles a woman lying on her back, and is often covered with snow — the peak is sometimes nicknamed La Mujer Dormida, "The Sleeping Woman". PopocatĂ©petl became an active volcano, raining fire on Earth in blind rage at the loss of his beloved.

Iztaccíhuatl (L) and Popocatépetl(R).

Popocatépetl began erupting shortly after my climb and has been erupting ever since.

I also climbed Orizaba on the same trip, but it does not have a legend around it as far as I know.

Orizaba

11 posted on 07/28/2026 12:39:53 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Gorgeous


12 posted on 07/28/2026 12:52:18 PM PDT by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to says it.)
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To: sit-rep
It IS real. All of those objects pictured in the sky are real. Go study some star charts.

The photographer manipulated the exposures to make objects invisible to the naked eye visible. We’re not capable of seeing that scene naturally, our eyes can’t collect that much light so exposures are enhanced.

If our eyes WERE capable of capturing that much light that’s what we would see.

13 posted on 07/28/2026 2:22:59 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum
)
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To: MtnClimber

Wow. If I could live my life over again

.


14 posted on 07/28/2026 2:24:48 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum
)
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To: telescope115

they are not real. they are enlarged and photoshopped in to make pretty imaginary pictures. Even if our eye sight was 1000 times better, standing on earth those nebulas would STILL look like a point of light. go bring your kids in the room and tell YOUR KIDS that this pic is real. Then when out at night, you can explain to them why they dont see any nebulas!!! I cannot believe your thinking exists in this world.


15 posted on 07/28/2026 2:43:57 PM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
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To: sit-rep
Thanks for the nice words
./s

If you have such contempt, why do you even bother looking at them.

Why don’t you go hate art somewhere else?

I also can assure you, I will sleep well tonight
.

16 posted on 07/28/2026 3:33:16 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum
)
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To: telescope115

If you need to kiss mtclimbers rear end, do it on your own, dont use me to do it. I have chimed in on these threads for years. some I praise, some I call out like this one. There is so much fake out there, its pathetic. NASA should be ashamed of themselves for contributing to it. There are gazzilions of REAL pics available so why do they have to fabricate them!!!??? That is my point!! If you dont like it, piss off....


17 posted on 07/28/2026 4:16:00 PM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
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To: sit-rep
I’m an amateur astronomer, as if you haven’t guessed already. 50 years. I can appreciate what the photographers are doing, a lot of my friends do the same to their photos.

If you have issues with NASA- fine, don’t we all. All NASA is doing is displaying them.

There are aesthetic as well as scientific reasons that astrophotographers, amateur and professional, enhance their photographs.

You don’t know me well enough to be acting like that with me, so why don’t YOU go piss off


18 posted on 07/28/2026 4:57:41 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum
)
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To: telescope115

You try to convince me of your superior knowledge and then use the word Enhance instead of what they truly are... PHOTOSHOPPED FAKE PICTURES. Enhancement is adding Sharpen, Saturation, Hue etc TO EXISTING pictures.

Stop trying to be convincing when you are purposely avoiding the crux of my grievance... The above pic IS NOT AN ENHANCEMENT!! IT IS A PHOTOSHOPPED FAKE PICTURE


19 posted on 07/28/2026 5:28:35 PM PDT by sit-rep (START DEMANDING INDICTMENTS NOW!!!!!)
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