Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 November 5 [2]A grassy hill appears in the foreground with tall statues of human heads embeddd. High overhead the central band of the Milky Way galaxy crosses horizontally. Above the Milky Way is a dark sky filled with stars. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Milky Way over Easter Island Credit & Copyright: [3]Josh Dury Explanation: Why were the statues on Easter Island built? No one is sure. What is sure is that over 900 large stone statues called [4]moais exist there. The [5]Rapa Nui (Easter Island) moais stand, on average, over twice as tall as a person and have over 200 times as much mass. It is thought that the [6]unusual statues were created about 600 years ago in the images of local leaders of a vibrant and ancient civilization. Rapa Nui has been declared by [7]UNESCO to a [8]World Heritage Site. [9]Pictured here, some of the [10]stone giants were imaged last month under the [11]central band of our [12]Milky Way galaxy. [13]Previously unknown moais are [14]still being discovered. Alternative Multi-APOD Front Page: [15]MyUniverseHub.com Tomorrow's picture: comet mountain __________________________________________________________________ [16]< | [17]Archive | [18]Submissions | [19]Index | [20]Search | [21]Calendar | [22]RSS | [23]Education | [24]About APOD | [25]Discuss | [26]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [27]Robert Nemiroff ([28]MTU) & [29]Jerry Bonnell ([30]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [31]Specific rights apply. [32]NASA Web Privacy, [33]Accessibility, [34]Notices; A service of: [35]ASD at [36]NASA / [37]GSFC, [38]NASA Science Activation & [39]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2411/IslandMoai_Dury_2831.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/josh_dury_photomedia/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moai 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Island 6. https://youtu.be/luv9B2fJIEM 7. https://www.unesco.org/ 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site 9. https://www.instagram.com/p/DA6GNhAslfT/ 10. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/civilization/giants.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110710.html 12. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 13. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/02/new-easter-island-moai-statue-discovered-in-volcano-crater 14. https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-scottish-fold-cat-head-600nw-1276621966.jpg 15. https://myuniversehub.com/ 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241104.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 20. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 22. https://apod.com/feed.rss 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 25. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=241105 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241106.html 27. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 28. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 29. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 30. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 32. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 33. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 35. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/ 37. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 38. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 39. http://www.mtu.edu/