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.
Explanation: You wake up in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana , Africa . You go outside your tent, set up your camera, and take long exposure s of the land and sky. What might you see? Besides a lot of blowing dust and the occasional acacia tree , you might catch many sky wonders. Pictured in 2015 September, sky highlights include the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy , the Pleiades Star Cluster, Barnard's Loop , and both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds , to name just a few. Although most of these faded in the morning light, they were quickly replaced by a partial eclipse of the Sun . Web designed by Simon G. Kupisz, 2020