February 23, 2004
The cosmos has been expanding since the beginning of time, making room for galaxies, for stars, for planets — and ultimately, for you.
Heaven on Earth
Birthday · February 23, 2004
A little universe, just for you
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APOD published February 23, 2004. Credit: Richard Payne (Arizona Astrophotography). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
If sometimes it appears that the entire Milky Way Galaxy is raining down on your head, do not despair. It happens twice a day. As the Sun rises in the East, wonders of the night sky become less bright than the sunlight scattered by our own Earth's atmosphere, and so fade from view. They will only rotate back into view when the Earth again eclipses our bright Sun at dusk. This battle between heaven and Earth was captured dramatically in a digitally enhanced double-exposure over the Kofa Mountains in Arizona, USA in 2003 May. Dark dust, millions of stars, and bright glowing red gas highlight the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, which lies on average thousands of light years behind Earth's mountains.
Image credit: Richard Payne (Arizona Astrophotography)