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Ecliptic New Zealand

Explanation: Four bright celestial beacons and a faint triangle of light follow the plane of the ecliptic as it arcs high through this southern hemisphere night skyscape. Seen on a July winter night from Lake Taupo on New Zealand's North Island, the line-up features Venus, Regulus (alpha star of Leo), Mars, and Saturn from lower left to upper right. Just put your cursor over the picture to identify the planets and constellations. The delicate luminous glow of Zodiacal Light, sunlight scattered by dust along the ecliptic, also rises above the horizon from the lower left. Of course, defined by the path of the Sun through planet Earth's sky, the ecliptic plane rides low during July nights in the northern hemisphere's summer skies. Tomorrow, the Moon and Sun will meet on the ecliptic. Along a track across the southern Pacific Ocean, the daytime sky will feature a total solar eclipse. Total Solar Eclipse: Times and Visibility | Webcast

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First seen on the Observation Deck, you can read the photographer's story here.

Go to the Communications Center to read more about this month's planetary lineup, here.

There is also more information available about the total solar eclipse on the Observation Deck, here.

In the Communications Center, you can find interesting information about the zodiacal light, here.

I never witnessed a total solar eclipse; a lot pf partials though. I"ll bet it would be a neat experience.
Seeing the planets lined up like that is pretty neat.

Just above and to the right of Leo Minor there is a faint streak. Meteorite suppose?

moonstruck wrote:Just above and to the right of Leo Minor there is a faint streak. Meteorite suppose?

Or an airplane or satellite.

I asked the imager about this when I got the picture (for possible posting on the Observation Deck), and he thought it likely a satellite.

What a beautiful dark sky and clear air.... Sigh.

-Noel

Wow, so beautiful... Venus looks so big, like the moon....Where's the moon?? Cuz there's a reflection in the water......

Guest wrote:Wow, so beautiful... :) Venus looks so big, like the moon....Where's the moon?? :? Cuz there's a reflection in the water......

That's the reflection of Venus. Perfectly normal to see it under dark conditions.

Chris Peterson wrote:

Guest wrote:Wow, so beautiful... Venus looks so big, like the moon....
Where's the moon?? Cuz there's a reflection in the water......

That's the reflection of Venus. Perfectly normal to see it under dark conditions.

http://www.artonstamps.org/countries/liechtenstein/venus/rubens-venus.htm wrote:
On the occasion of the opening of the Liechtenstein Museum in Vienna, Austria and Liechtenstein
released a joint stamp issue to mark the new artistic attraction of Austria's capital...
the chosen work for the stamp, a painting by Rubens, "Venus in Front of the Mirror", c. 1613/1614.

http://www.metabunker.dk/?p=1919 wrote:
The most instructive juxtaposition in the room is between Titian’s voluptuous Washington Venus with a Mirror (c. 1555)
and Veronese’s bizarrely wonderful version of the same subject from the Joslyn Art Museum (mid-1580s).

(( grinning and shaking my head )) leave it to the neufer ......