July 2, 2008
On the day you were born, the universe was already ancient beyond measure — and yet, in all those billions of years, it had never once...
Night Shinings
Birthday · July 2, 2008
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published July 2, 2008. Credit: PixHeaven.net. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
In the early morning hours of June 30th, ghostly clouds hovered in the east in this view of near dawn skies over western France. The noctilucent or night-shining clouds lie near the edge of space, reflecting sunlight from about 80 kilometers above Earth's surface. Usually spotted above the poles in summer, they are now seen with increasing frequency farther from the poles, in this case extending to the photographer's latitude of about 48 degrees north. The trend could be a telltale sign of global changes in the atmosphere. Another 400,000 kilometers away, the Moon's sunlit crescent shines brightly, its night side illuminated by Earthshine. Of course, as a bonus for early risers June's old crescent Moon was followed closely across the sky by the lovely Pleiades star cluster, surrounded by cosmic dust clouds and shining from a mere 400 light-years away.
Image credit: PixHeaven.net