Credit & Copyright: Mike Line (Caltech),
Ed Mierkiewicz
(Univ. Wisconsin-Madison),
Ron Oliversen
(NASA-GSFC)
Explanation:
Bright
planets Venus and Jupiter
are framed by the
National Solar Observatory's
McMath-Pierce
Solar Telescope
in this very astronomical scene.
The photo was taken at
Kitt Peak
National Observatory on March 9.
A heliostat sits atop the 100 foot high
solar telescope tower
to focus the Sun's rays down a long
diagonal
shaft that reaches underground to the telescope's primary mirror.
Of course, after sunset shadows were cast and the
structure illuminated by light from the nearly full
rising Moon.
Opened to begin the night's work,
the dome housing Kitt Peak's 2.1 meter reflector
is included in the frame, while
the Pleiades star cluster shines above the heliostat tower.
The angular McMath-Pierce was commissioned 50 years ago to
study the Sun,
but has also
made many observations of these two bright planets.
On this night it was conducting observations of
sodium
ions in the tenuous
lunar atmosphere.
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 |
Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr' |
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
|
Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami:
Venus - Jupiter - Yupiter - Venera
Publikacii so slovami: Venus - Jupiter - Yupiter - Venera | |
Sm. takzhe:
Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >> | |
