This amazing image shows how the planet Mars passes below two nebulae.
Astrophotographer Derek Demeter took this photo from the Stardust Ranch Ranch in Okeechobee, Florida. Demeter is director of the Planetarium Emil Buehler Perpetual Trust Planetarium at Seminole State College, Florida.
In the photograph, Mars passes below two objects known as the Laguna Nebula and the Triple Nebula. Both nebulae are located in the constellation Sagittarius and are located in the central region of the Milky Way galaxy.
"This is a great prospect of our solar system in relation to the galaxy," Demeter wrote in his blog. Located about 5,000 light-years from Earth, the Laguna Nebula is one of two star-forming regions visible to the naked eye in the northern hemisphere. It is about 110 light-years across and is also known as Messier 8 or NGC 6523. Triple Nebula (Messier 20 or NGC 6514) is a combination of emission nebula (red zone), reflection nebula (blue region) and dark nebula. In addition, the star-forming regions of NGC 6559, IC 1274 and IC 1275 are visible in the photo.
