This is a stunning image of the Milky Way! The image takes in the sky if you could temporarily remove the Earth or was at a good distance away from our planet. The image is the result of taking 3000 images of the night sky and stitching them together. Many features of the night sky that are too dim for the human eye to detect are represented in the image. Particularly evident are the dark regions associated with gas and dust in the plane of the Milky Way. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are also distictive in the image.
If you are interested in the details of how this image was produced there is a paper available on the Milky Way Panorama 2.0 website. The website has a zoomable image version of the map.
Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day; Axel Mellinger
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The only shewors you need a calendar for (hopefully)If you’re curious when you should be looking skyward for that next downpour of space rocks, look no further than . Complete with dates, peak dates, and moon phases (the less light there is in the sky, the more meteors you’ll see), along with lots of general astronomy and stargazing info.Another good reference for shewors and other celestial events such as eclipses, comets, and planetary happenings is , which is chock-a-block with all sorts of fascintating star and sky gazing occurrences., including peak activity dates for each of the shewors.Things you’ll want to consider for meteor shower viewing:If you live near anything remotely resembling a major metropolitan area, you’ll probably need to get at least a little bit outside of town to see anything but the brightest ones. Light pollution covers up the rest.Dress for the weather. You’re going to be out in the dark, usually predawn hours. Bring some bug spray if it’s summer. Bundle up and bring a thermos of something hot in the winter. Got some folding camp chairs? Bring em. Leave the binoculars at home, however, because you won’t need them.A flashlight with a red filter over it is handy to read star charts or maps in the dark without killing your night vision and is also nice for not stumbling over everything in the darkness on your way back to the car. Photo by GD Star Ratingloading…