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. 2023 September 22 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download and animated gif. Cosmos in Reflection Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Jeff Dai ([5]TWAN) Explanation: [6]During the day, over 12,000 large mirrors reflect sunlight at the 100-megawatt, molten-salt, solar thermal power plant at the western edge of the Gobi desert near [7]Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. Individual mirror panels turn to track the sun like sunflowers. They conspire to act as a single super mirror reflecting the sunlight toward a fixed position, the power station's central tower. [8]During the night the mirrors stand motionless though. They reflect the light of the countless distant stars, clusters and nebulae of the Milky Way [9]and beyond. This [10]sci-fi night skyscape was created with a camera fixed to a tripod near the edge of the giant mirror matrix on September 15. The camera's combined sequence of digital exposures captures concentric arcs of celestial [11]star trails through the night with star trails in [12]surreal mirrored reflection. Tomorrow's picture: analog analemma's afternoon __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC, [33]NASA Science Activation & [34]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2309/CosmosinReflection-1.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://twanight.org/profile/jeff-dai/ 5. https://www.twanight.org/ 6. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-03/01/c_139775005.htm 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090619.html 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pbr2wIgCHE 9. https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/index.html 10. https://www.fictionunbound.com/blog/2016/4/30/three-body-problem 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220728.html 12. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Pbr2wIgCHE 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230921.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230922 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230923.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 34. http://www.mtu.edu/