January 27, 2014
The light from the farthest visible stars set out on its journey long before your first birthday.
From the Northern to the Southern Cross
Birthday · January 27, 2014
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published January 27, 2014. Credit: Nicholas Buer. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
There is a road that connects the Northern to the Southern Cross but you have to be at the right place and time to see it. The road, as pictured above, is actually the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy; the right place, in this case, is dark Laguna Cejar in Salar de Atacama of Northern Chile; and the right time was in early October, just after sunset. Many sky wonders were captured then, including the bright Moon, inside the Milky Way arch; Venus, just above the Moon; Saturn and Mercury, just below the Moon; the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds satellite galaxies, on the far left; red airglow near the horizon on the image left; and the lights of small towns at several locations across the horizon. One might guess that composing this 30-image panorama would have been a serene experience, but for that one would have required earplugs to ignore the continued brays of wild donkeys. Follow APOD on: Instagram
Image credit: Nicholas Buer