The title of this weeks apod blog is "Mars in a Manger". The opposition in late January has Mars shone very brightly in Earths night sky. This stands among the stars of the constellation Cancer, the Crab. Since the photo snapshot, the Red Planet has been fading. However, it still lingers in Cancer during the months of April and May. During mid-April, Mars wandered close to Cancer's star cluster of M44. This is also known as the Beehive Cluster. M44 is also known by the older name, Praesepe which is latin for cradle of manger. This awesome photo was captured in a 60 second time exposure made on April 14, a yellow-tinged Mars and M44 are near the center of the field, seemingly just beyond the reach of a pine tree. The photo is a little dark, but I still think it meets its purpose and is extremely interesting, especially against the starry night in the back round.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/1004/MarsandM44ambrose-60S-1024.jpg
Thursday, May 6, 2010
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