A rhea in the Milky Way is the image of the day for NASA: its author is a Uruguayan, as well as the experts who helped him to give it context. The astrophoto shows a segment of our spiral galaxy, with the group of stars forming the silhouette of this South American bird.
This wonderful image was recorded by Fefo Bouvier, who has already been the protagonist of six NASA publications. She had the artistic contribution of Alfonso Rosso and the scientific research of Camila Gianotti.
He took it in mid-April in Cabo Polonio, Uruguay, with the Atlantic Ocean in the background.
NASA’s description of the rhea in the Milky Way
“Have you seen the bird in the Milky Way?” NASA wrote on its Astronomy Picture of the Day portal, or Astronomical Photography of the Day.
“Beyond the man on the Moon, the night sky is full of stories, and the cultures throughout it They have projected some of their most enduring legends onto the stars and dust above.”
“Generations of people,” the agency continues, “see these heavenly icons, they listen to their associated stories and pass them on.”
NASA continues in its description of the image taken by Fefo Bouvier: “Here portrayed not only a segment of the central band of our galaxy, the Milky Way, but also, according to the folklore of various native peoples of Uruguay, the outline of a large bird called a rhea”.
South America and space in a single and spectacular image
Ostrich-like running bird, a rhea (scientific name Rhea americana) is smaller than that. It does not have a tail and it does have three fingers on each leg, in addition to its gray or brown plumage.
The rhea can be found on the southern plains of America.
But the rhea is not alone in the photo: it is accompanied by a statue of Maria Micaela Guyunusa, indigenous woman from the charrúa people who lived in the 19th century, enduring as a symbol of resistance to the European conquest.
An image that portrays the beauty not only of space, but also of the aboriginal cosmogony of South America and its history.