The Milky Way, Venus and Orion

July 06, 2008

070608

Provided and Copyright by: Mila Zinkova, Fogshadow
Summary Author and Editor: Jim Foster, Mila Zinkova

This time exposed photo, taken just before dawn on October 22, 2007 from San Francisco, California, shows a "fish eye" view of many of the prominent features of the northern winter sky, not the least of which is the Milky Way seen in the upper right center. Also visible are a faint Orionid meteor in the lower right and the planet Venus which, due to the time exposure necessary to bring out the stars, appears as the huge bright blob at bottom right center. There is even a rare glimpse of the zodiacal light discernible as a dim cone of light extending up from Venus. The Big Dipper is at the bottom left center and Orion is at the top right center. Sirius, the brightest star visible from the Northern Hemisphere, is to the lower right of Orion. Venus is approximately 16 times brighter than Sirius. On this image, west is at top and east is at the bottom.