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Credit & Copyright: Martin Lefranc
Explanation:
On an August night two friends
enjoyed this view after
a day's hike on the Plateau d'Emparis in the French Alps.
At 2400 meters altitude the sky was clear.
Light from a setting moon illuminates the foreground
captured in the simple vertical panorama of images.
Along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy
stars of Cassiopeia and Perseus shine along the panorama's left edge.
But seen as a faint cloud with a brighter core, the
Andromeda
galaxy,
stands directly above the two friends in the night.
The nearest large spiral galaxy, Andromeda is about
2.5 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way.
Adding to the evening's shared
extragalactic
perspective, the fainter fuzzy spot in the sky right between them is
M33, also known as the Triangulum galaxy.
Third largest in the
local
galaxy group, after Andromeda and
Milky Way, the Triangulum galaxy is about 3 million light-years distant.
On that night, the two friends stood about 3
light-nanoseconds
apart.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: M 31 - M 33
Publications with words: M 31 - M 33
See also: