ż 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. 2021 January 25 [2]See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available. Southern Cross over Chilean Volcano Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Tomás Slovinský Explanation: Have you ever seen the Southern Cross? This famous four-star icon is best seen from Earth's Southern Hemisphere. The featured image was taken last month in [4]Chile and captures the [5]Southern Cross just to the left of erupting [6]Villarrica, one of the most active [7]volcanos in [8]our Solar System. Connecting the reddest Southern Cross star Gacrux through the brightest star [9]Acrux points near the most southern location in the sky: the [10]South Celestial Pole (SCP), around which all southern stars appear to spin [11]as the Earth turns. In [12]modern times, no bright star resides near the SCP, unlike in the north where bright [13]Polaris now appears near the NCP. [14]Extending the Gacrux - Acrux line still further (from about four to about seven times their angular separation) leads near the [15]Small Magellanic Cloud, a bright satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. The Southern Cross [16]asterism dominates the Crux constellation, a [17]deeper array of stars that includes four [18]Cepheid variable stars visible to the unaided eye. Just above the volcano in the image, and looking like a dark plume, is the [19]Coalsack Nebula, while the large red star-forming [20]Carina Nebula is visible on the upper left. Portal Universe: [21]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: detective hubble __________________________________________________________________ [22]< | [23]Archive | [24]Submissions | [25]Index | [26]Search | [27]Calendar | [28]RSS | [29]Education | [30]About APOD | [31]Discuss | [32]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell ([36]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply. [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC & [42]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/SouthernCross_Slovinsky_3000.jpg 3. http://slovinsky.art/en/homeen/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile 5. https://www.constellation-guide.com/the-southern-cross/ 6. https://youtu.be/gmZ1q9_Cdtg 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villarrica_(volcano) 8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/our-solar-system/overview/ 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrux 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210101.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200701.html 12. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/17PkUsTVa7g/maxresdefault.jpg 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150602.html 14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_pole#/media/File:Pole01-eng.jpg 15. https://youtu.be/ssQyxCijfr8 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy) 17. https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/the-southern-cross-signpost-of-southern-skies 18. https://youtu.be/QcChCeX2VrY 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalsack_Nebula 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200505.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210124.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 31. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210125 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210126.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 40. https://www.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 42. http://www.mtu.edu/