May 24, 2011
On the day you were born, another consciousness opened inside the cosmos and began taking notes.
Three Arches Above Utah
Birthday · May 24, 2011
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published May 24, 2011. Credit: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography). A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
How many arches can you count in the above image? If you count both spans of the Double Arch in the Arches National Park in Utah, USA, then two. But since the above image was taken during a clear dark night, it caught a photogenic third arch far in the distance -- that of the overreaching Milky Way Galaxy. Because we are situated in the midst of the spiral Milky Way Galaxy, the band of the central disk appears all around us. The sandstone arches of the Double Arch were formed from the erosion of falling water. The larger arch rises over 30 meters above the surrounding salt bed and spans close to 50 meters across. The dark silhouettes across the image bottom are sandstone monoliths left over from silt-filled crevices in an evaporated 300 million year old salty sea. A dim flow created by light pollution from Moab, Utah can also be seen in the distance.
Image credit: Brad Goldpaint (Goldpaint Photography)