Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 1
A fisheye image of the sky is shown on the left
with the landscape-foreground surrounding it. The plane of
our Milky Way Galaxy runs down the centre. At first glance
the sky looks like oddly like an eye of a dragon. 
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Eye Sky a Dragon
Image Credit & Copyright: Anton Komlev

Explanation: What do you see when you look into this sky? In the centre, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy running down the middle? Do you see the ruins of an abandoned outpost on a hill? (The outpost is on Askold Island, Russia.) Do you see a photographer with a headlamp contemplating surreal surroundings? (The featured image is a panorama of 38 images taken last month and compiled into a Little Planet projection.) Do you see a rugged path lined with steps? Or do you see the eye of a dragon?

Tomorrow's picture: in spired


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