Yahoo News Stargazer Enjoys Venus View from Giant's Causeway in Ireland (Photo)
A stargazer enjoys a dazzling view of the planet Venus in this spectacular photo taken above the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.
Astrophotographer Miguel Claro took this image between the Giant's Causeway, near Bushmills, in northeast coast of Northen Ireland on March 20.
In the image, one can see Venus and a visible corona phenomenon. Venus is surrounded by a water droplet diffraction corona. Water and dust in the air act as mini lenses, scattering the sun's light so that its waves add together in some places and cancel out in others, creating a diffraction pattern called a corona made of concentric circles. [April's Night Sky: Amazing Photos by Stargazers]
Near the top edge of the image we can also see the Pleiades star cluster. Comprising 800 stars, the Pleiades star cluster (M45) was formed about 100 million years ago and is located 410 light-years from Earth in the constellation Taurus. One light-year is the distance light travels in a single year, which is about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers).
Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption.
To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by SPACE.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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