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Birthday · January 6, 2018

Planets on the Wing

January 6, 2018

Your life began on a planet that never stops moving under a sky that never stops changing.

Planets on the Wing

A little universe, just for you

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APOD published January 6, 2018. Credit: Dong Han. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the image

Planets on the Wing

Original APOD · January 6, 2018

Lately, bright Jupiter and fainter Mars have been easy to spot for early morning skygazers. Before dawn on January 7 the two naked-eye planets will reach a close conjunction near the horizon, only 1/4 degree apart in predawn eastern skies. That apparent separation corresponds to about half the angular diameter of a Full Moon. Just off the wing of a high-flying aircraft in this snapshot from early morning January 5, Jupiter (left) and Mars (middle) are also lined-up with the well-balanced Zubenelgenubi (right), alpha star of the constellation Libra. Below are lights from central Europe near Prague, Czech Republic, planet Earth.

Image credit: Dong Han

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