Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2019 September 14
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                         Little Planet to Exoplanets
           Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Petr Horálek / [5]ESO

   Explanation: [6]Of course this little planet is really planet Earth in
   a digitally stitched 360 x 180 degree mosaic captured high in the
   Chilean Atacama desert. The seemingly large domes house the 1-meter
   diameter telescopes of the [7]SPECULOOS Southern Observatory. With a
   name creatively inspired by a sweet biscuit treat, the SPECULOOS
   (Search for habitable Planets EClipsing ULtra-cOOl Stars) telescopes
   really are hunting for little planets. Their mission is to search for
   the telltale dimming that indicates the [8]transit of terrestrial
   exoplanets around the population of nearby, tiny, dim, ultracool stars.
   On the not-so-distant horizon, adaptive optics [9]laser beams are
   firing from ESO's mountain top Paranal Observatory. The central Milky
   Way and Magellanic clouds also shine in [10]this little planet's night
   sky.

                     Tomorrow's picture: long on saturn
     __________________________________________________________________

      [11]< | [12]Archive | [13]Submissions | [14]Index | [15]Search |
   [16]Calendar | [17]RSS | [18]Education | [19]About APOD | [20]Discuss |
                                    [21]>
     __________________________________________________________________

    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC
                           & [31]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1909/2019_07_04_SPECULOOS_Pano_24mm_LP_viz.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?page_id=20
   5. https://www.eso.org/public/
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap181109.html
   7. https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/speculoos/
   8. https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180518.html
  10. http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?p=5070
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190913.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190914
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190915.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. http://www.mtu.edu/