Southern and northern hemisphere night skies, composite image
Composite panorama of the entire night sky taken from the platforms of Gemini South in Chile (left) and Gemini North in Hawai'i (right). Zodiac constellations have been superimposed above. These two telescopes comprise the International Gemini Observatory. The bright white band streaking from left to right is zodiacal light, created by sunlight scattering off interplanetary dust dispersed throughout the Solar System. This light appears along the pathway of the Sun and planets across the sky, known as the ecliptic, and it's so bright that it can easily be mistaken for light pollution on a dark night. The bright patch of light at centre is directly opposite the Sun in the sky. This spot is the Gegenschein. At left is a rising Jupiter along with Venus (brightest spot on the left), Mars, and Saturn in the middle of the zodiacal light.
Size: 12800px × 2732px
Location:
Photo credit: © NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/ T. Slovinsky/PETR HORALEK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: -, aquarius, aries, astronomical, astronomy, astrophysical, astrophysics, capricorn, constellation, constellations, dome, gemini, hemisphere, leo, libra, light, milky, night, noirlab, north, northern, observatories, observatory, panorama, panoramic, sagittarius, scorpio, sky, south, southern, stars, taurus, telescope, telescopes, zodiac, zodiacal
