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 December 26
    [2]See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an
    annotated version. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                         The Northern Winter Hexagon
                Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Petr Horálek

   Explanation: [5]December's New Moon brought a solar eclipse to some for
   the holiday season. It also gave beautiful dark night skies to
   skygazers around the globe, like this moonless northern winter night.
   [6]In the scene, bright stars of the Winter Hexagon along the Milky Way
   are rising. Cosy mountain cabins in the snowy foreground are near the
   village of Oravska Lesna, Slovakia. The shining celestial beacons
   marking the [7]well-known asterism are Aldebaran, Capella, Pollux (and
   Castor), Procyon, Rigel, and Sirius. This winter nightscape also
   reveals faint nebulae in Orion, and the lovely Pleiades star cluster.
   Slide your cursor over the image to trace the winter hexagon, or just
   [8]follow this link.

                   Tomorrow's picture: a beautiful Trifid
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [20]Robert Nemiroff ([21]MTU) & [22]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([23]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [24]Specific rights apply.
              [25]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [26]ASD at [27]NASA / [28]GSFC
                           & [29]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1912/Orava_Duskova_WinterHexagon_0.png
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?page_id=20
   5. https://earthsky.org/?p=318599
   6. http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?p=5339
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110103.html
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1912/Orava_Duskova_WinterHexagon_0.jpg
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191225.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  13. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  18. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=191226
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191227.html
  20. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  21. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  23. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  25. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  26. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  29. http://www.mtu.edu/