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Jul 24, 2014
ALMA Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution)
Courtesy of http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
ALMA Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution)
Courtesy of http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
This alluring all-skyscape was taken 5,100 meters above sea level,
from the Chajnantor Plateau
in the Chilean Andes.
Viewed through the site's rarefied atmosphere at about 50% sea level
pressure, the gorgeous Milky Way stretches through the scene.
Its cosmic rifts
of dust, stars, and nebulae are
joined by Venus, a brilliant morning star immersed
in a strong band of predawn Zodiacal light.
Still not completely dark
even at this high altitude,
the night sky's greenish cast is due to
airglow
emission from oxygen atoms.
Around the horizon the dish antenna units of
the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array,
ALMA, explore the universe
at wavelengths over 1,000 times longer than visible light.
