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                           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.   
      
                                  2023 December 9   
      
                                  Pic du Pleiades   
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Francois Graffand   
      
      Explanation: Near dawn on November 19 the Pleiades stood in still dark   
      skies over the French Pyrenees. But just before sunrise a serendipitous   
      moment was captured in this single 3 second exposure; a bright meteor   
      streak appeared to pierce the heart of the galactic star cluster. From   
      the camera's perspective, star cluster and meteor were poised directly   
      above the mountain top observatory on the Pic du Midi de Bigorre. And   
      though astronomers might consider the Pleiades to be relatively close   
      by, the grain of dust vaporizing as it plowed through planet Earth's   
      upper atmosphere actually missed the cluster's tight grouping of young   
      stars by about 400 light-years. While recording a night sky timelapse   
      series, the camera and telephoto lens were fixed to a tripod on the   
      Tour-de-France-cycled slopes of the Col du Tourmalet about 5 kilometers   
      from the Pic du Midi.   
      
                 Tomorrow's picture: the plough over the mountain   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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