APOD: 2020 December 31 - Trail of the Returner

Good LAST "Thursday and End of the Year Day" to my very good friend and astronomy enthusiast Maj William W. 'Bill' Price - thanks brother for sharing the APOD Titled: "Trail of the Returner." Have a great uneventful, but relaxing New Year's Eve Bill! Ready for 2021!

Thanks for sharing brother Bill!

Thank you my friend Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA last Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Thursday, December 31, 2020 entitled "Trail of the Returner." near the southern border of inner Mongolia near Zhangye, Gansu, China.

I hope and pray that each of you are enjoying this New Year's eve and will be blessed in 2021.

Image: Trail of the Returner - Image Credit & Copyright Zhuoxiao Wang

APOD Background
"Explanation: Familiar stars of a northern winter's night shine in this night skyview, taken near Zhangye, Gansu, China and the border with Inner Mongolia. During the early hours of December 17 Orion is near center in the single exposure that captures a fireball streaking across the sky, almost as bright as yellowish Mars shining on the right. Splitting Gemini's twin bright stars Castor and Pollux near the top of the frame, the fireball's trail and timing are consistent with the second skipping atmospheric entry of the Chang'e 5 mission's returner capsule. The returner capsule was successfully recovered after landing in Inner Mongolia, planet Earth with about 2 kilograms of lunar material on board. The lunar sample is thought to contain relatively young material collected near the Mons Rumker region of the Moon's Oceanus Procellarum. Launched on November 23 UT, China's Chang'e 5 mission is the first lunar sample return mission since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.'

Chris de Burgh - A Spaceman Came Travelling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZg7tvGN9o
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