Panorama of the northern autumn sky


360 degree all-sky, or fish-eye, panorama of the northern autumn sky and Milky Way. The Milky Way is arching directly overhead, with the summer Milky Way in Cygnus setting in the west at right, and the winter Milky Way and Orion rising in the east at left. At centre overhead is the segment of the Milky Way through Cepheus, Cassiopeia, Perseus and Auriga prominent in the autumn months. In this direction we are looking out toward the edge of our Galaxy, toward the outer Perseus arm, in the direction opposite the galactic core which is well below the horizon here. The South Galactic Pole area in Sculptor is low in the south just above the horizon at bottom. A faint band of zodiacal light and zodiacal band can be seen extending up from the southwest at lower right and extending along the ecliptic through Mars and toward the Pleiades. Along the Milky Way are various red nebulas, regions of star formation, notably the North America Nebula (NGC 7000) at right, and the California Nebula (NGC 1499) at left above the blue Pleiades star cluster. At centre are various IC-catalogue nebulas in Cepheus and Cassiopeia. The Orion Nebula is just rising at left. The bright red object almost due south below centre is Mars. At centre almost directly overhead is the Andromeda Galaxy. Polaris is above centre due north, with the Big Dipper low in the north at top. The sky is tinted with red and green bands of natural airglow. At right, the white glow along the western horizon is from light pollution. Taken from Alberta, Canada, on December 6, 2020.


Size: 5400px × 5400px
Location:
Photo credit: © Alan Dyer, VWPics/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: -, -sky, 360, airglow, andromeda, anti-centre, arm, astronomical, astronomy, astrophotography, autumn, band, cassiopeia, cygnus, december, degree, fish-eye, galactic, light, m31, mars, milky, multi-tier, night, orion, panorama, pegasus, perseus, pole, pollution, sgp, sky, south, zodiacal