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.
2002 July 26 
Posted on 07/26/2002 6:43:15 PM PDT by petuniasevan
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.
2002 July 26
Explanation: Clear evening skies are a welcome sight for stargazers worldwide, but clearing skies are good too. Just such a glorious occasion was recorded in this dramatic photo taken by Dominic Cantin during a recent gathering of Canadian astronomers at St-Nérée Observatory, located about 60 kilometers southeast of the city of Quebec. Looking toward the west on July 13th, the exposure captured a distant lightning flash from a passing thunderstorm at the far left. On the right, the storm clouds' retreat has uncovered an overexposed crescent Moon sharing the evening twilight with bright Venus only a few degrees away (below and far right). In the darkening sky above the young Moon is a familiar right triangle of stars in the constellation Leo. Cantin reports that clear skies followed, all night long.
Clearing skies may make for dramatic photos, but deep-sky observations may be compromised. The air behind thunderstorms is often quite turbulent from their passage, and a "swimming" image in your 'scope is no fun. Another thing to check for is the position of the jet stream. If it passes over your position the "seeing" will be poor at high magnification.
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