Astronomy Picture of the Day—20180729

Discoverthe cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinatinguniverse is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professionalastronomer.

2018July 29

OneNight, One Telescope, One Camera

ImageCredit & Copyright: Fernando Cabrerizo (Centro Astronomico de Tiedra)

Explanation:Taken on the same night, from the same place, with the same telescope andcamera, these postcards from our Solar System are shown at the same scale toprovide an interesting comparison of apparent sizes. Spanning about half adegree in planet Earth's sky, the Moon is a stitched mosaic of six images. Theothers are the result of digitally stacked frames or simple single exposures,with the real distances to the objects indicated along the bottom of eachinsert. Most of the Solar System's planets with their brighter moons, and Plutowere captured during the telescopic expedition, but elusive Mercury was missedbecause of clouds near the horizon. The International Space Station wassuccessfully hunted, though. The night was July 21st. Telescope and camera werelocated at the Centro Astronomico de Tiedra Observatory in Spain.