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.

                                 2025 June 4
     [2]A large telescope appears on the left. The band of our Milky Way
   Galaxy extends from the telescope to the upper right of the image. The
   horizon has a slight glow. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                    A Milky Road to the Rubin Observatory
    Image Credit: [3]NSF, [4]DOE, [5]Rubin Obs., [6]Paulo Assunção Lago
                               ([7]Rubin Obs.)

   Explanation: Is the sky the same every night? No -- the night sky
   changes every night in many ways. To better explore how the night sky
   changes, the [8]USA's [9]NSF and [10]DOE commissioned the [11]Vera C.
   Rubin Observatory in [12]Cerro Pachón, [13]Chile. In final testing
   before routine operations, [14]Rubin will begin to explore these
   [15]nightly changes -- slight differences that can tell us much about
   our [16]amazing universe and its surprising [17]zoo of objects. With a
   mirror over 8 meters across, Rubin will [18]continually reimage the
   entire [19]visible sky every few nights to discover new [20]supernovas,
   potentially [21]dangerous asteroids, faint comets, and [22]variable
   stars -- as well as [23]mapping out the visible universe's
   [24]large-scale structure. Pictured, the distant [25]central band of
   our [26]Milky Way Galaxy appears to flow out from the [27]newly
   operational observatory. Taken last month, the [28]featured picture is
   a composite of 21 images across the night sky, capturing [29]airglow on
   the horizon and the [30]Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy on the lower
   left.

       APOD Turns 30!: [31]Free Public Lecture in Anchorage on June 11
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [43]Robert Nemiroff ([44]MTU) & [45]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([46]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [47]Specific rights apply.
            [48]NASA Web Privacy, [49]Accessibility, [50]Notices;
                A service of: [51]ASD at [52]NASA / [53]GSFC,
                         [54]NASA Science Activation
                           & [55]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2506/RubinMw_assuncao_1460.jpg
   3. https://www.nsf.gov/
   4. https://www.energy.gov/
   5. https://rubinobservatory.org/
   6. https://www.instagram.com/passuncao.ph/
   7. https://rubinobservatory.org/
   8. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/united-states/
   9. https://www.nsf.gov/
  10. https://www.energy.gov/
  11. https://rubinobservatory.org/
  12. https://youtu.be/clMsIDxUlmA
  13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile
  14. https://rubinobservatory.org/about/vera-rubin
  15. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003AJ....125.2740N/abstract
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220316.html
  17. https://www.zooniverse.org/
  18. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1999PASP..111..886N/abstract
  19. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight/
  20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150531.html
  21. https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/about/neo_groups.html
  22. https://www.aavso.org/visionmission
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230705.html
  24. https://science.nasa.gov/universe/galaxies/large-scale-structures/
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap221023.html
  26. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-milky-way-galaxy/
  27. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/yhojundchqd21.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=eca3b221dfd81fabe3eb7165f16bd29a35f225d4
  28. https://www.instagram.com/p/DKH0GYLRC1i/
  29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airglow
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210105.html
  31. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1236113895188422&set=a.439352174864602
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250603.html
  33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  38. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  41. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250604
  42. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250605.html
  43. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  44. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  45. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  46. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  47. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  48. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  49. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  50. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  51. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  52. https://www.nasa.gov/
  53. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  54. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  55. http://www.mtu.edu/