Astronomy Picture of the Day for Dec 25, 2023.
This beautiful image of the Basilica of Superga near Turin, Italy, framed by the peak of Monte Viso and a crescent moon behind it, was taken by Valerio Minato 10 days ago, after 5 unsuccessful attempts over 6 years. It takes a lot of planning and some good fortune to capture such an image. The alignment occurs about once a year and the weather Gods have to smile. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231225.html #APOD
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#PPOD: What may look like a strangely nearby galaxy is actually a normal rocket's exhaust plume -- but unusually backlit. Like noctilucent clouds, the plume's brightness is caused by the Twilight Effect, where an object is high enough to be illuminated by the twilight Sun, even when the observer on the ground experiences the darkness of night. The spiral shape is caused by the Falcon rocket reorienting to release satellites in different directions. Credit: Seung Hye Yang
Well, isn’t that lovely: our JWST image of the inner Orion Nebula & Trapezium Cluster is today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day 🖖🙂🤘
Thanks to everyone who’s sharing the images & don’t forget that you can download them at full resolution under a CC BY-SA licence via the link in the next toot 👇