                        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.

                                2024 July 21
    The band of the Milky Way runs across a night sky filled with stars.
     Colorful clouds are on the right horizon. A strange rock structure
   appears in the image center with a base and an extended arm that seems
    to point to the colorful horizon. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                  King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way
     Image Credit & Copyright: Wayne Pinkston (LightCrafter Photography)

   Explanation: This rock structure is not only surreal -- it's real.
   Perhaps the reason it's not more famous is that it is smaller than one
   might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so,
   the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating
   example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos
   may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer
   rock. Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a
   night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably
   picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to
   be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the
   background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured
   here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the
   background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching
   overhead.

                     Tomorrow's picture: find the galaxy
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

