Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 January 26
A dark sloping hill is seen at the bottom with a bright comet with many
tails visible above it, taking up most of the frame. The tails closest
to the slope are the most dim. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

The Many Tails of Comet G3 ATLAS
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Ma+íek (FZU, Czech Academy of Sciences)
& Jakub Ku+Ö+ík

Explanation: Why does this comet have so many tails? C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)
has developed several long and intricate tails visible from Earth's
southern hemisphere over the past two weeks. Many observers reported
seeing the impressive comet without any optical aid above the western
horizon just after sunset. At least six different tails appear in the
featured image captured five days ago from the dark skies above Paranal
Observatory in Chile. One possible cause for the multiple tails is dust
and gas being expelled from the comet's rotating nucleus. The outward
push of the Sun's complex solar wind may also play a role. The huge
iceberg-like nucleus of Comet ATLAS appears to have broken up near its
closest approach to the Sun two weeks ago. Unfortunately, Comet ATLAS
and its tails are expected to fade significantly over the coming weeks.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: half dome stars
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 January 27
A cluster of bright blue stars is seen on the upper right while an
unusual dome-like mountain occupies most of the frame. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Pleiades over Half Dome
Image Credit & Copyright: Dheera Venkatraman

Explanation: Stars come in bunches. The most famous bunch of stars on
the sky is the Pleiades, a bright cluster that can be easily seen with
the unaided eye. The Pleiades lies only about 450 light years away,
formed about 100 million years ago, and will likely last about another
250 million years. Our Sun was likely born in a star cluster, but now,
being about 4.5 billion years old, its stellar birth companions have
long since dispersed. The Pleiades star cluster is pictured over Half
Dome, a famous rock structure in Yosemite National Park in California,
USA. The featured image is a composite of 28 foreground exposures and
174 images of the stellar background, all taken from the same location
and by the same camera on the same night in October 2019. After
calculating the timing of a future juxtaposition of the Pleiades and
Half Dome, the astrophotographer was unexpectedly rewarded by an
electrical blackout, making the background sky unusually dark.

Astrophysicists: Browse 3,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
Library
Tomorrow's picture: big comet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 January 28
A foreground grass field is shown below a distant field of stars. On
the grass field are some trees. Dwarfing the trees, in the sky, is a
comet with a long tail. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Comet G3 ATLAS over Uruguay
Image Credit & Copyright: Mauricio Salazar

Explanation: Comets can be huge. When far from the Sun, a comet's size
usually refers to its hard nucleus of ice and rock, which typically
spans a few kilometers -- smaller than even a small moon. When nearing
the Sun, however, this nucleus can eject dust and gas and leave a thin
tail that can spread to an enormous length -- even greater than the
distance between the Earth and the Sun. Pictured, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS)
sports a tail of sunlight-reflecting dust and glowing gas that spans
several times the apparent size of a full moon, appearing even larger
on long duration camera images than to the unaided eye. The featured
image shows impressive Comet ATLAS over trees and a grass field in
Sierras de Mahoma, San Jose, Uruguay about a week ago. After being
prominent in the sunset skies of Earth's southern hemisphere, Comet G3
ATLAS is now fading as it moves away from the Sun, making its
impressive tails increasingly hard to see.

Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)
Tomorrow's picture: star circles
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 January 29
A bright spot at the center is surrounded by many concentric rings. The
rings are nearly -- but not exactly -- circular in appearance. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Dust Shells around WR 140 from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, E. Lieb (U. Denver), R. Lau (NSF
NOIRLab), J. Hoffman (U. Denver)

Explanation: What are those strange rings? Rich in dust, the rings are
likely 3D shells -- but how they were created remains a topic of
research. Where they were created is well known: in a binary star
system that lies about 6,000 light years away toward the constellation
of the Swan (Cygnus) -- a system dominated by the Wolf-Rayet star WR
140. Wolf-Rayet stars are massive, bright, and known for their
tumultuous winds. They are also known for creating and dispersing heavy
elements such as carbon, which is a building block of interstellar
dust. The other star in the binary is also bright and massive -- but
not as active. The two great stars joust in an oblong orbit as they
approach each other about every eight years. When at closest approach,
the X-ray emission from the system increases, as, apparently, does the
dust expelled into space -- creating another shell. The featured
infrared image by the Webb Space Telescope resolves greater details and
more dust shells than ever before. Images taken over consecutive years
show the shells moving outward.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 January 30

Hydrogen Clouds of M33
Image Credit & Copyright: Pea Mauro

Explanation: Gorgeous spiral galaxy Messier 33 seems to have more than
its fair share of glowing hydrogen gas. A prominent member of the local
group of galaxies, M33 is also known as the Triangulum Galaxy and lies
a mere 3 million light-years away. The galaxy's central 60,000
light-years or so are shown in this sharp galaxy portrait. The portrait
features M33's reddish ionized hydrogen clouds or HII regions.
Sprawling along loose spiral arms that wind toward the core, M33's
giant HII regions are some of the largest known stellar nurseries,
sites of the formation of short-lived but very massive stars. Intense
ultraviolet radiation from the luminous, massive stars ionizes the
surrounding hydrogen gas and ultimately produces the characteristic red
glow. In this image, broadband data were combined with narrowband data
recorded through a filter that transmits the light of the strongest
visible hydrogen and oxygen emission lines.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 January 31

The Variable Nebula NGC 2261
Image Credit & Copyright: Tommy Lease (Denver Astronomical Society)

Explanation: The interstellar cloud of dust and gas captured in this
sharp telescopic snapshot is seen to change its appearance noticeably
over periods as short as a few weeks. Discovered over 200 years ago and
cataloged as NGC 2261, bright star R Monocerotis lies at the tip of the
fan-shaped nebula. About one light-year across and 2500 light-years
away, NGC 2261 was studied early last century by astronomer Edwin
Hubble and the mysterious cosmic cloud is now more famous as Hubble's
Variable Nebula. So what makes Hubble's nebula vary? NGC 2261 is
composed of a dusty reflection nebula fanning out from the star R
Monocerotis. The leading variability explanation holds that dense knots
of obscuring dust pass close to R Mon and cast moving shadows across
the dust clouds in the rest of Hubble's Variable Nebula.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 1

Nacreous Clouds over Sweden
Image Credit & Copyright: Vojan H++fer

Explanation: Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color wash
across this skyscape from northern Sweden. Known as nacreous clouds or
mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But their unforgettable
appearance was captured in this snapshot on January 12 with the Sun
just below the local horizon. A type of polar stratospheric cloud, they
form when unusually cold temperatures in the usually cloudless lower
stratosphere form ice crystals. Still sunlit at altitudes of around 15
to 25 kilometers, the clouds diffract the sunlight even when the Sun
itself is hidden from direct view.

Tomorrow's picture: comet disintegrates
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 2
A series of comet images is shown. On the far left the image shows
Comet G3 ATLAS with a bright central concentration at its head near the
bottom of the frame. By the far right, this central concentration is
nearly gone. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates
Image Credit: Lionel Majzik

Explanation: What's happening to Comet G3 ATLAS? After passing near the
Sun in mid-January, the head of the comet has become dimmer and dimmer.
By late January, Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) had become a headless wonder
-- even though it continued to show impressive tails after sunset in
the skies of Earth's Southern Hemisphere. Pictured are images of Comet
G3 ATLAS on successive January nights taken from R+¡o Hurtado, Chile.
Clearly, the comet's head is brighter and more centrally condensed on
the earlier days (left) than on later days (right). A key reason is
likely that the comet's nucleus of ice and rock, at the head's center,
has fragmented. Comet G3 ATLAS passed well inside the orbit of planet
Mercury when at its solar closest, a distance that where heat destroys
many comets. Some of comet G3 ATLAS' scattering remains will continue
to orbit the Sun.

Gallery: Comet G3 ATLAS
Tomorrow's picture: star-sized wind machine
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 3
A starfield is shown with a large spherical nebula in the center. The
nebula shows a great deal of internal structure. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Wolf-Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind Machine
Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA; Processing & License:
Judy Schmidt

Explanation: Some stars explode in slow motion. Rare, massive
Wolf-Rayet stars are so tumultuous and hot that they are slowly
disintegrating right before our telescopes. Glowing gas globs each
typically over 30 times more massive than the Earth are being expelled
by violent stellar winds. Wolf-Rayet star WR 124, visible near the
featured image center and spanning six light years across, is thus
creating the surrounding nebula known as M1-67. Details of why this
star has been slowly blowing itself apart over the past 20,000 years
remains a topic of research. WR 124 lies 15,000 light-years away
towards the constellation of the Arrow (Sagitta). The fate of any given
Wolf-Rayet star likely depends on how massive it is, but many are
thought to end their lives with spectacular explosions such as
supernovas or gamma-ray bursts.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: anti-rainbow
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 4
A rainbow is pictured over the sea between an island and land. A series
of light rays appears to connect the horizon to the rainbow. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Anticrepuscular Rays: A Rainbow Fan over Spain
Image Credit & Copyright: Julene Eiguren

Explanation: Yes, but can your rainbow do this? Late in the day, the
Sun set as usual toward the west. However, on this day, the more
interesting display was 180 degrees around -- toward the east. There,
not only was a rainbow visible, but an impressive display of
anticrepuscular rays from the rainbow's center. In the featured image
from Lekeitio in northern Spain, the Sun is behind the camera. The
rainbow resulted from sunlight reflecting back from falling rain.
Anticrepuscular rays result from sunlight, blocked by some clouds,
going all the way around the sky, overhead, and appearing to converge
on the opposite horizon -- an optical illusion. Rainbows by themselves
can be exciting to see, and anticrepuscular rays a rare treat, but
capturing them both together is even more unusual -- and can look both
serene and surreal.

Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: comet set
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 5

Comet G3 ATLAS Setting over a Chilean Hill
Video Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Mu+#oz

Explanation: Where is Comet ATLAS going? In the featured time-lapse
video, the comet is not itself moving very much, but the Earth's
rotation makes it appear to be setting over a hill. The Comet C/2024 G3
(ATLAS) sequence was captured with an ordinary camera on January 22
from the Araucan+¡a Region in central Chile. Comet ATLAS has been an
impressive site in the evening skies of Earth's Southern Hemisphere
over the past few weeks, so bright and awe-inspiring that it may
eventually become known as the Great Comet of 2025. Unfortunately,
Comet G3 ATLAS is not going anywhere anymore because its central
nucleus broke up during its close pass to the Sun last month. Some of
the comet's scattered remains of rocks and ice will continue to orbit
the Sun, some in nearly the same outward section of the orbit that the
comet's nucleus would have taken.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 6

IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes

Explanation: Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory,
flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful,
symmetric spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In
fact dwarf galaxy IC 2574 shows clear evidence of intense star forming
activity in its telltale reddish regions of glowing hydrogen gas. Just
as in spiral galaxies, the turbulent star-forming regions in IC 2574
are churned by stellar winds and supernova explosions spewing material
into the galaxy's interstellar medium and triggering further star
formation. A mere 12 million light-years distant, IC 2574 is part of
the M81 group of galaxies, seen toward the northern constellation Ursa
Major. Also known as Coddington's Nebula, the lovely island universe is
about 50,000 light-years across, discovered by American astronomer
Edwin Coddington in 1898.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 7

LEDA 1313424: The Bullseye Galaxy
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Imad Pasha (Yale), Pieter van Dokkum (Yale)

Explanation: The giant galaxy cataloged as LEDA 1313424 is about two
and a half times the size of our own Milky Way. Its remarkable
appearance in this recently released Hubble Space Telescope image
strongly suggests its nickname "The Bullseye Galaxy". Known as a
collisional ring galaxy it has nine rings confirmed by telescopic
observations, rippling from its center like waves from a pebble dropped
into a pond. Of course, the pebble dropped into the Bullseye galaxy was
a galaxy itself. Telescopic observations identify the blue dwarf galaxy
at center-left as the likely collider, passing through the giant
galaxy's center and forming concentric rings in the wake of their
gravitational interaction. The Bullseye Galaxy lies some 567 million
light-years away toward the constellation Pisces. At that distance,
this stunning Hubble image would span about 530,000 light-years.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 8

A Conjunction of Crescents
Image Credit & Copyright: Aldo S. Kleiman

Explanation: A waxing crescent Moon and a waning crescent Venus are
found at opposite corners of this twilight telephoto field of view. The
close conjunction of the two brightest celestial beacons in planet
Earth's western evening sky was captured on February 1 from Rosario,
Argentina. On that date, the slender crescent Moon was about 3 days
old. But the Moon's visible sunlit crescent will grow to a bright Full
Moon by February 14. Like the Moon, Venus cycles through phases as it
orbits the Sun. And while its visible sunlit crescent narrows, the
inner planet's apparent size increases as it gets closer to Earth. In a
Valentine from the Solar System, Venus, named for the Roman goddess of
Love, will also reach its peak brightness in planet Earth's evening
skies around February 14.

Tomorrow's picture: southern skyscape
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 9
A flat landscape is shown at night that appears mostly brown. Numerous
unusual rock spires are seen rising from the group. Above, a full star
field is seen with the arch of our Milky Way Galaxy curving from left
to right. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way over the Australian Pinnacles
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Goh

Explanation: What strange world is this? Earth. In the foreground of
the featured image are the Pinnacles, unusual rock spires in Nambung
National Park in Western Australia. Made of ancient sea shells
(limestone), how these human-sized picturesque spires formed remains
unknown. In the background, just past the end of the central Pinnacle,
is a bright crescent Moon. The eerie glow around the Moon is mostly
zodiacal light, sunlight reflected by dust grains orbiting between the
planets in the Solar System. Arching across the top is the central band
of our Milky Way Galaxy. Many famous stars and nebulas are also visible
in the background night sky. The featured 29-panel panorama was taken
and composed in 2015 September after detailed planning that involved
the Moon, the rock spires, and their corresponding shadows. Even so,
the strong zodiacal light was a pleasant surprise.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: glow bird
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 10
A snowy landscape sits below a star filled sky. Dominating the frame is
a large aurora in red, green, yellow, purple, white. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Auroral Hummingbird over Norway
Image Credit & Copyright: Mickael Coulon

Explanation: Is this the largest hummingbird ever? Although it may look
like a popular fluttering nectarivore, what is pictured is actually a
beautifully detailed and colorful aurora, complete with rays
reminiscent of feathers. This aurora was so bright that it was visible
to the unaided eye during blue hour -- just after sunset when the sky
appears a darkening blue. However, the aurora only looked like a
hummingbird through a sensitive camera able to pick up faint glows. As
reds typically occurring higher in the Earth's atmosphere than the
greens, the real 3D shape of this aurora would likely appear
unfamiliar. Auroras are created when an explosion on the Sun causes
high energy particles to flow into the Earth's atmosphere and excite
atoms and molecules of nitrogen and oxygen. The featured image was
captured about two weeks ago above Lyngseidt, Norway.

Tomorrow's picture: fly high
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 11
A star field has a red diffuse glow on the right-hand side. Distinct
nebulas appear in the center and on the lower left. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

The Spider and the Fly
Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Boddington

Explanation: Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large
emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga).
The spider-shaped gas cloud in the image center is actually an emission
nebula labelled IC 417, while the smaller fly-shaped cloud on the left
is dubbed NGC 1931 and is both an emission nebula and a reflection
nebula. About 10,000 light-years distant, both nebulas harbor young
star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about 10
light-years across. The featured deep image, captured over 20 hours
during late January in Berkshire UK, also shows more diffuse and
red-glowing interstellar gas and dust.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: asteroid revolution
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 12

Asteroid Bennu Holds the Building Blocks of Life
Video Credit: Data: NASA, SVS, U. Arizona, CSA, York U., MDA;
Visualizer: Kel Elkins (lead, SVS); Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech
U.)

Explanation: What can a space rock tell us about life on Earth? NASA's
OSIRIS-REx spacecraft made a careful approach to the near-Earth
asteroid 101955 Bennu in October of 2020 to collect surface samples. In
September 2023, the robotic spaceship returned these samples to Earth.
A recent analysis has shown, surprisingly, that the samples contained
14 out of the 20 known amino acids that are the essential building
blocks of life. The presence of the amino acids re-introduces a big
question: Could life have originated in space? However, the protein
building blocks themselves held another surprise -- they contained an
even mixture of left-handed and right-handed amino acids -- in contrast
to our Earth which only has left-handed ones. This raises another big
question: Why does life on Earth have only left-handed amino acids?
Research on this is sure to continue.

Tomorrow's picture: interstellar dust clouds
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 February 13

Reflections on VdB 31
Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni

Explanation: Riding high in the constellation of Auriga, beautiful,
blue VdB 31 is the 31st object in Sidney van den Bergh's 1966 catalog
of reflection nebulae. It shares this well-composed celestial still
life with dark, obscuring clouds B26, B27, and B28, recorded in Edward
E. Barnard's 1919 catalog of dark markings in the sky. All are these
nebulae are interstellar dust clouds. Barnard's dark nebulae block the
light from background stars. For VdB 31 the dust preferentially
reflects bluish starlight from embedded, hot, variable star AB Aurigae.
Exploring the environs of AB Aurigae with the Hubble Space Telescope
has revealed the several million year young star is itself surrounded
by a flattened dusty disk with evidence for the ongoing formation of a
planetary system. AB Aurigae is about 470 light-years away. At that
distance this cosmic canvas would span about eight light-years.

Tomorrow's picture: when roses are red
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 14

A Cosmic Rose: NGC 2237 in Monoceros
Image Credit & Copyright: Harry Karamitsos

Explanation: The Rosette Nebula, NGC 2237, is not the only cosmic cloud
of gas and dust to evoke the imagery of flowers, but it is probably the
most famous. At the edge of a large molecular cloud in Monoceros some
5,000 light years away, the petals of this cosmic rose are actually a
stellar nursery. The lovely, symmetric shape is sculpted by the winds
and radiation from its central cluster of hot young, O-type stars.
Stars in the energetic cluster, cataloged as NGC 2244, are only a few
million years young, while the central cavity in the Rosette Nebula, is
about 50 light-years in diameter. The nebula can be seen with a small
telescope toward the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn. This
natural appearing telescopic portrait of the Rosette Nebula was made
using broadband color filters, but sometimes roses aren't red.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 15

Parhelia at Abisko
Image Credit & Copyright: Felipe Menzella

Explanation: Three suns seem to hug the horizon in this otherworldly
winterscape. But the evocative scene was captured during a February 3rd
snowmobile exploration of the mountainous region around Abisko National
Park, northern Sweden, planet Earth. The two bright spots on either
side of Earth's Sun are parhelia (singular parhelion), also known as
mock suns or sun dogs. The parhelia are caused by hexagonal ice
crystals suspended in the hazy atmosphere that reflect and refract
sunlight. Commonly seen in winter and at high latitudes, the bright
parhelia lie along the visible 22 degree ice halo of the Sun.

Tomorrow's picture: swooping jupiter
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 16

Perijove 11: Passing Jupiter
Video Credit & License: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS, Gerald Eichstadt;
Music: Moonlight Sonata (Ludwig van Beethoven)

Explanation: Here comes Jupiter. NASA's robotic spacecraft Juno is
continuing on its highly elongated orbits around our Solar System's
largest planet. The featured video is from perijove 11 in early 2018,
the eleventh time Juno passed near Jupiter since it arrived in
mid-2016. This time-lapse, color-enhanced movie covers about four hours
and morphs between 36 JunoCam images. The video begins with Jupiter
rising as Juno approaches from the north. As Juno reaches its closest
view -- from about 3,500 kilometers over Jupiter's cloud tops -- the
spacecraft captures the great planet in tremendous detail. Juno passes
light zones and dark belts of clouds that circle the planet, as well as
numerous swirling circular storms, many of which are larger than
hurricanes on Earth. After the perijove, Jupiter recedes into the
distance, then displaying the unusual clouds that appear over Jupiter's
south. To get desired science data, Juno swoops so close to Jupiter
that its instruments are exposed to very high levels of radiation.

Tomorrow's picture: big cloud
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 17
Houses are seen on a street below the night sky. In the sky is a bright
light plume that looks like the outline of a giant fish. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

SpaceX Rocket Launch Plume over California
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin LaMontagne

Explanation: What's happened to the sky? Last Monday, the photogenic
launch plume from a SpaceX rocket launch created quite a spectacle over
parts of southern California and Arizona. Looking at times like a giant
space fish, the impressive rocket launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base
near Lompoc, California, was so bright because it was backlit by the
setting Sun. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully delivered to low Earth
orbit 23 Starlink communications satellites. The plume from the first
stage is seen on the right, while the soaring upper stage rocket is
seen at the apex of the plume toward the left. Venus appears at the top
of the frame, while a bright streetlight shines on the far right. The
featured image was captured toward the west after sunset from near
Phoenix, Arizona.

Tomorrow's picture: Thor birds
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 18
A tall starscape appears to have two bright nebulas. The large one at
the top is colored mostly red and is known as the Seagull Nebula. The
small one near the bottom right is known as Thor's Helmet. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Thor's Helmet versus the Seagull
Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Martino, Adrien Soto, Louis Leroux &
Yann Sainty

Explanation: Seen as a seagull and a duck, these nebulae are not the
only cosmic clouds to evoke images of flight. But both are winging
their way across this broad celestial landscape, spanning almost 7
degrees across planet Earth's night sky toward the constellation of the
Big Dog (Canis Major). The expansive Seagull (top center) is itself
composed of two major cataloged emission nebulas. Brighter NGC 2327
forms the head with the more diffuse IC 2177 as the wings and body.
Impressively, the Seagull's wingspan would correspond to about 250
light-years at the nebula's estimated distance of 3,800 light-years. At
the lower right, the Duck appears much more compact and would span only
about 50 light-years given its 15,000 light-year distance estimate.
Blown by energetic winds from an extremely massive, hot star near its
center, the Duck nebula is cataloged as NGC 2359. Of course, the Duck's
thick body and winged appendages also lend it the slightly more
dramatic popular moniker, Thor's Helmet.

Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: star system forming
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 19
A dark field has a single, colorful, blurry structure in its center.
Red-colored jets extend out from the center toward the top and bottom
of the frame. A dark disk covers the center. Blue outflows appear on
both sides of the horizontal disk. To the lower left, a larger blue
outflow extends. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

HH 30: A Star System with Planets Now Forming
Image Credit: James Webb Space Telescope, ESA, NASA & CSA, R. Tazaki et
al.

Explanation: How do stars and planets form? New clues have been found
in the protoplanetary system Herbig-Haro 30 by the James Webb Space
Telescope in concert with Hubble and the Earth-bound ALMA. The
observations show, among other things, that large dust grains are more
concentrated into a central disk where they can form planets. The
featured image from Webb shows many attributes of the active HH-30
system. Jets of particles are being expelled vertically, shown in red,
while a dark dust-rich disk is seen across the center, blocking the
light from the star or stars still forming there. Blue-reflecting dust
is seen in a parabolic arc above and below the central disk, although
why a tail appears on the lower left is currently unknown. Studying how
planets form in HH 30 can help astronomers better understand how
planets in our own Solar System once formed, including our Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: M87
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 20

Messier 87
Image Credit: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team

Explanation: Enormous elliptical galaxy Messier 87 is about 50 million
light-years away. Also known as NGC 4486, the giant galaxy holds
trillions of stars compared to the mere billions of stars in our large
spiral Milky Way. M87 reigns as the large central elliptical galaxy in
the Virgo galaxy cluster. An energetic jet from the giant galaxy's core
is seen to stretch outward for about 5,000 light-years in this sharp
optical and near-infrared view from the Hubble Space Telescope. In
fact, the cosmic blow torch is seen across the electromagnetic spectrum
from gamma-rays to radio wavelengths. Its ultimate power source is
M87's central, supermassive black hole. An image of this monster in the
middle of M87 has been captured by planet Earth's Event Horizon
Telescope.

Tomorrow's picture: our friendly neighbor
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 21

Hubble's Andromeda Galaxy Mosaic
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Mission,
B. F. Williams (Univ Washington), Z. Chen (Univ Washington), L. C.
Johnson (Northwestern),
Processing; Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Explanation: The largest photomosaic ever assembled from Hubble Space
Telescope image data is a panoramic view of our neighboring spiral
Andromeda Galaxy. With 600 overlapping frames assembled from
observations made from July 2010 to December 2022, the full Hubble
Andromeda Galaxy mosaic spans almost six full moons across planet
Earth's sky. A cropped version shown above is nearly two full moons
across and partially covers Andromeda's core and inner spiral arms.
Also known as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light-years
away. That makes it the closest large spiral galaxy to our own Milky
Way. Our perspective on the spiral Milky Way is anchored to the view
from the location of the Sun, a star found within the Milky Way's
galactic disk. But Hubble's magnificent Andromeda mosaic offers an
expansive view of a large spiral galaxy from the outside looking in.
Hubble's comprehensive, detailed data set extending across the
Andromeda Galaxy will allow astronomers to make an unprecedented
holistic exploration of the mysteries of spiral galaxy structure and
evolution.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 22

Rima Hyginus
Image Credit & Copyright: Vincenzo Mirabella

Explanation: Rima Hyginus is a spectacular fissure, some 220 kilometers
long, found near the center of the lunar near side. Easy to spot in
telescopic views of the Moon, it stretches top left to bottom right
across this lunar closeup. The image was made with exaggerated colors
that reflect the mineral composition of the lunar soil. Hyginus crater
lies near the center of the narrow lunar surface groove. About 10
kilometers in diameter, the low-walled crater is a volcanic caldera,
one of the larger non-impact craters on the lunar surface. Dotted with
small pits formed by surface collapse, Hyginus rima itself was likely
created by stresses due to internal magma upwelling and collapse along
a long surface fault. The intriguing region was a candidate landing
site for the canceled Apollo 19 mission.

Tomorrow's picture: northern Saturn
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 23
The planet Saturn is seen very close up. The clouds are tinted beige
and tan, while parts of rings are seen at the top and bottom of the
image. At the north pole of Saturn at the top, a blue-tinted hexagon is
visible. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Saturn in Infrared from Cassini
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SSI; Processing: Maksim Kakitsev

Explanation: Saturn looks slightly different in infrared light. Bands
of clouds show great structure, including long stretching storms. Also
quite striking in infrared is the unusual hexagonal cloud pattern
surrounding Saturn's North Pole. Each side of the dark hexagon spans
roughly the width of our Earth. The hexagon's existence was not
predicted, and its origin and likely stability remain a topics of
research. Saturn's famous rings circle the planet and cast shadows
below the equator. The featured image was taken by the robotic Cassini
spacecraft in 2014 in several infrared colors. In 2017 September, the
Cassini mission was brought to a dramatic conclusion when the
spacecraft was directed to dive into the ringed giant.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: lava sky
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 24
A slope of volcano is pictured with red glowing lava running down its
side. A dark starry sky is in the background. Up into the sky a red
column is visible. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Light Pillar over Erupting Etna
Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Cali+#

Explanation: Can a lava flow extend into the sky? No, but light from
the lava flow can. One effect is something quite unusual -- a volcanic
light pillar. More typically, light pillars are caused by sunlight and
so appear as a bright column that extends upward above a rising or
setting Sun. Alternatively, other light pillars -- some quite colorful
-- have been recorded above street and house lights. This light pillar,
though, was illuminated by the red light emitted by the glowing magma
of an erupting volcano. The volcano is Italy's Mount Etna, and the
featured image was captured with a single shot during an early morning
in mid-February. Freezing temperatures above the volcano's lava flow
created ice-crystals either in the air above the volcano or in
condensed water vapor expelled by Mount Etna. These ice crystals --
mostly flat toward the ground but fluttering -- then reflected away
light from the volcano's caldera.

Tomorrow's picture: stars between curtains
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 25
A starscape is shown with red filaments running diagonally from the
lower left to the upper right. Many bright blue stars are visible
across the center of the frame. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

M41: The Little Beehive Star Cluster
Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li

Explanation: Why are there so many bright blue stars? Stars are usually
born in clusters, and the brightest and most massive of these stars
typically glow blue. Less-bright, non-blue stars like our Sun surely
also exist in this M41 star cluster but are harder to see. A few bright
orange-appearing red giant stars are visible. The red-light filaments
are emitted by diffuse hydrogen gas, a color that was specifically
filtered and enhanced in this image. In a hundred million years or so,
the bright blue stars will have exploded in supernovas and disappeared,
while the slightly different trajectories of the fainter stars will
cause this picturesque open cluster to disperse. Similarly, billions of
years ago, our own Sun was likely born into a star cluster like M41,
but it has long since drifted apart from its sister stars. The featured
image was captured over four hours with Chilescope T2 in Chile.

Tomorrow's picture: Einstein's ring
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 February 26
A cluster of galaxies is shown with many galaxies around the cluster
center. A close look at this center shows that it is encompassed by a
narrow ring of light. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Einstein Ring Surrounds Nearby Galaxy Center
Image Credit & Copyright: ESA, NASA, Euclid Consortium; Processing:
J.-C. Cuillandre, G. Anselmi, T. Li

Explanation: Do you see the ring? If you look very closely at the
center of the featured galaxy NGC 6505, a ring becomes evident. It is
the gravity of NGC 6505, the nearby (z = 0.042) elliptical galaxy that
you can easily see, that is magnifying and distorting the image of a
distant galaxy into a complete circle. To create a complete Einstein
ring there must be perfect alignment of the nearby galaxy's center and
part of the background galaxy. Analysis of this ring and the multiple
images of the background galaxy help to determine the mass and fraction
of dark matter in NGC 6505's center, as well as uncover previously
unseen details in the distorted galaxy. The featured image was captured
by ESA's Earth-orbiting Euclid telescope in 2023 and released earlier
this month.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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written by a professional astronomer.

2025 May 1

MESSENGER's Last Day on Mercury
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ. APL, Arizona State Univ., CIW

Explanation: The first to orbit inner planet Mercury, the MESSENGER
spacecraft came to rest on this region of Mercury's surface on April
30, 2015. Constructed from MESSENGER image and laser altimeter data,
the projected scene looks north over the northeastern rim of the broad,
lava filled Shakespeare basin. The large, 48 kilometer (30 mile) wide
crater Janacek is near the upper left edge. Terrain height is color
coded with red regions about 3 kilometers above blue ones. MESSENGER'S
final orbit was predicted to end near the center, with the spacecraft
impacting the surface at nearly 4 kilometers per second (over 8,700
miles per hour) and creating a new crater about 16 meters (52 feet) in
diameter. The impact on the far side of Mercury was not observed by
telescopes, but confirmed when no signal was detected from the
spacecraft given time to emerge from behind the planet. Launched in
2004, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemisty and Ranging
spacecraft completed over 4,000 orbits after reaching the Solar
System's innermost planet in 2011.

Tomorrow's picture: burning hydrogen
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 May 2
See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
resolution version available.

Young Star Cluster NGC 346
Science - NASA, ESA, CSA, Olivia C. Jones (UK ATC), Guido De Marchi
(ESTEC), Margaret Meixner (USRA)
Processing - Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Nolan Habel (USRA), Laura Lenki-ç
(USRA), Laurie E. U. Chu (NASA Ames)

Explanation: The most massive young star cluster in the Small
Magellanic Cloud is NGC 346, embedded in our small satellite galaxy's
largest star forming region some 210,000 light-years distant. Of course
the massive stars of NGC 346 are short lived, but very energetic. Their
winds and radiation sculpt the edges of the region's dusty molecular
cloud triggering star-formation within. The star forming region also
appears to contain a large population of infant stars. A mere 3 to 5
million years old and not yet burning hydrogen in their cores, the
infant stars are strewn about the embedded star cluster. This
spectacular infrared view of NGC 346 is from the James Webb Space
Telescope's NIRcam. Emission from atomic hydrogen ionized by the
massive stars' energetic radiation as well as molecular hydrogen and
dust in the star-forming molecular cloud is detailed in pink and orange
hues. Webb's sharp image of the young star-forming region spans 240
light-years at the distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Tomorrow's picture: Titan's Shangra-La
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 May 3

Titan: Moon over Saturn
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute

Explanation: Like Earth's moon, Saturn's largest moon Titan is locked
in synchronous rotation with its planet. This mosaic of images recorded
by the Cassini spacecraft in May of 2012 shows its anti-Saturn side,
the side always facing away from the ringed gas giant. The only moon in
the solar system with a dense atmosphere, Titan is the only solar
system world besides Earth known to have standing bodies of liquid on
its surface and an earthlike cycle of liquid rain and evaporation. Its
high altitude layer of atmospheric haze is evident in the Cassini view
of the 5,000 kilometer diameter moon over Saturn's rings and cloud
tops. Near center is the dark dune-filled region known as Shangri-La.
The Cassini-delivered Huygens probe rests below and left of center,
after the most distant landing for a spacecraft from Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: black hole spin
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 May 4
An artistic illustration of a black hole is shown. The black spot in
the center is the black hole, while the accretion disk of gas
surrounding it is shown in orange. Stars and the darkness of space is
shown near the top in the background. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

Spin up of a Supermassive Black Hole
Illustration Credit: Robert Hurt, NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explanation: How fast can a black hole spin? If any object made of
regular matter spins too fast -- it breaks apart. But a black hole
might not be able to break apart -- and its maximum spin rate is really
unknown. Theorists usually model rapidly rotating black holes with the
Kerr solution to Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, which
predicts several amazing and unusual things. Perhaps its most easily
testable prediction, though, is that matter entering a maximally
rotating black hole should be last seen orbiting at near the speed of
light, as seen from far away. This prediction was tested by NASA's
NuSTAR and ESA's XMM satellites by observing the supermassive black
hole at the center of spiral galaxy NGC 1365. The near light-speed
limit was confirmed by measuring the heating and spectral line
broadening of nuclear emissions at the inner edge of the surrounding
accretion disk. Pictured here is an artist's illustration depicting an
accretion disk of normal matter swirling around a black hole, with a
jet emanating from the top. Since matter randomly falling into the
black hole should not spin up a black hole this much, the NuSTAR and
XMM measurements also validate the existence of the surrounding
accretion disk.

Hole New Worlds: It's Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: planet lines
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 5
The featured image shows a night sky over some choppy water. The planet
Venus shines high in the night sky, while a faint Saturn in on the far
right. The crescent Moon is visible near the image center. A bright
boat beacon is also visible on the right. All of these objects are
reflected as lines in the foreground water. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

Planet Lines Across Water
Image Credit & Copyright: Jose Antonio Hervas

Explanation: WhatCÇÖs causing those lines? Objects in the sky sometimes
appear reflected as lines across water CÇö but why? If the waterCÇÖs
surface is smooth, then reflected objects would appear similarly -- as
spots. But if the water is choppy, then there are many places where
light from the object can reflect off the water and still come to you
-- and so together form, typically, a line. The same effect is
frequently seen for the Sun just before sunset and just after sunrise.
Pictured about 10 days ago in Ibiza, Spain, images of the setting Moon,
Venus (top), and Saturn (right, faint) were captured both directly and
in line-reflected forms from the Mediterranean Sea. The other bright
object on the right with a water-reflected line is a beacon on a rock
to warn passing boats.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 7
Two large galaxies are shown against a dark starfield. The galaxy on
the upper left has blue spiral arms speckled with red nebulae. The
galaxy on the lower right has a white line with red filaments on each
side. Thin wisps cover some of the rest of the field. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Galaxy Wars: M81 versus M82
Image Credit & Copyright: Collaborative Astrophotography Team (CAT)

Explanation: In the upper left corner, surrounded by blue arms and
dotted with red nebulas, is spiral galaxy M81. In the lower right
corner, marked by a light central line and surrounded by red glowing
gas, is irregular galaxy M82. This stunning vista shows these two
mammoth galaxies locked in gravitational combat, as they have been for
the past billion years. The gravity from each galaxy dramatically
affects the other during each hundred-million-year pass. Last go-round,
M82's gravity likely raised density waves rippling around M81,
resulting in the richness of M81's spiral arms. But M81 left M82 with
violent star forming regions and colliding gas clouds so energetic the
galaxy glows in X-rays. This big battle is seen from Earth through the
faint glow of an Integrated Flux Nebula, a little studied complex of
diffuse gas and dust clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy. In a few billion
years, only one galaxy will remain.

Tomorrow's picture: incredible crab 1
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 8
The Crab Nebula, M1, is shown as imaged by the James Webb Space
Telescope. The rollover image is the same Crab Nebula but this time
from the Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb image is in near infrared
light, while the Hubble image is in visible light. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Jeff Hester (ASU), Allison Loll
(ASU), Tea Temim (Princeton University)

Explanation: Cataloged as M1, the Crab Nebula is the first on Charles
Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact, the Crab
Nebula is now known to be a supernova remnant, an expanding cloud of
debris from the death explosion of a massive star. The violent birth of
the Crab was witnessed by astronomers in the year 1054. Roughly 10
light-years across, the nebula is still expanding at a rate of about
1,500 kilometers per second. You can see the expansion by comparing
these sharp images from the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space
Telescope. The Crab's dynamic, fragmented filaments were captured in
visible light by Hubble in 2005 and Webb in infrared light in 2023.
This cosmic crustacean lies about 6,500 light-years away in the
constellation Taurus.

Tomorrow's picture: interstellar particle beams
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 9
An artist's illustration of what the surroundings of the supermassive
black hole at the center of BL Lac is shown. A white jet protrudes
horizontally toward the bottom of the image, emanating from a orange
accretion disk surrounding a black hole. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

IXPE Explores a Black Hole Jet
Illustration Credit: NASA, Pablo Garcia

Explanation: How do black holes create X-rays? Answering this
long-standing question was significantly advanced recently with data
taken by NASACÇÖs IXPE satellite. X-rays cannot exit a black hole, but
they can be created in the energetic environment nearby, in particular
by a jet of particles moving outward. By observing X-ray light arriving
from near the supermassive black hole at the center of galaxy BL Lac,
called a blazar, it was discovered that these X-rays lacked significant
polarization, which is expected when created more by energetic
electrons than protons. In the featured artistic illustration, a
powerful jet is depicted emanating from an orange-colored accretion
disk circling the black hole. Understanding highly energetic processes
across the universe helps humanity to understand similar processes that
occur on or near our Earth.

Put it All Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: Yogi on Mars: 3D
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 10

Yogi and Friends in 3D
Image Credit: Mars Pathfinder Mission, JPL, NASA

Explanation: This picture from July 1997 shows a ramp from the
Pathfinder lander, the Sojourner robot rover, deflated landing airbags,
a couch, Barnacle Bill and Yogi Rock appear together in this 3D stereo
view of the surface of Mars. Barnacle Bill is the rock just left of the
house cat-sized, solar-paneled Sojourner. Yogi is the big
friendly-looking boulder at top right. The "couch" is the angular rock
shape visible near center on the horizon. Look at the image with
red/blue glasses (or just hold a piece of clear red plastic over your
left eye and blue or green over your right) to get the dramatic 3D
perspective. The stereo view was recorded by the remarkable Imager for
Mars Pathfinder (IMP) camera. The IMP had two optical paths for stereo
imaging and ranging and was equipped with an array of color filters for
spectral analysis. Operating as the first astronomical observatory on
Mars, the IMP also recorded images of the Sun and Deimos, the smallest
of Mars' two tiny moons.

Tomorrow's picture: if you could stand on Venus ...
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 11
A black & white image shows an empty flat landscape filled with
flattened rocks. At the bottom is part of the spacecraft that captured
this image of the planet Venus. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

The Surface of Venus from Venera 14
Image Credit: Soviet Planetary Exploration Program, Venera 14;
Processing & Copyright: Donald Mitchell & Michael Carroll (used with
permission)

Explanation: If you could stand on Venus -- what would you see?
Pictured is the view from Venera 14, a robotic Soviet lander which
parachuted and air-braked down through the thick Venusian atmosphere in
March of 1982. The desolate landscape it saw included flat rocks, vast
empty terrain, and a featureless sky above Phoebe Regio near Venus'
equator. On the lower left is the spacecraft's penetrometer used to
make scientific measurements, while the light piece on the right is
part of an ejected lens-cap. Enduring temperatures near 450 degrees
Celsius and pressures 75 times that on Earth, the hardened Venera
spacecraft lasted only about an hour. Although data from Venera 14 was
beamed across the inner Solar System over 40 years ago, digital
processing and merging of Venera's unusual images continues even today.
Recent analyses of infrared measurements taken by ESA's orbiting Venus
Express spacecraft indicate that active volcanoes may currently exist
on Venus.

Jigsaw Fun: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: Milky Way side view
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 12
A dark field of space surrounds a thin but colorful band horizontally
across the center. The band is nearly straight but curves at its outer
edges. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Gaia Reconstructs a Side View of our Galaxy
Illustration Credit: ESA, Gaia, DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar

Explanation: What does our Milky Way Galaxy look like from the side?
Because we are on the inside, humanity canCÇÖt get an actual picture.
Recently, however, just such a map has been made using location data
for over a billion stars from ESACÇÖs Gaia mission. The resulting
featured illustration shows that just like many other spiral galaxies,
our Milky Way has a very thin central disk. Our Sun and all the stars
we see at night are in this disk. Although hypothesized before, perhaps
more surprising is that the disk appears curved at the outer edges. The
colors of our Galaxy's warped central band derive mostly from dark
dust, bright blue stars, and red emission nebulas. Although data
analysis is ongoing, Gaia was deactivated in March after a successful
mission.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: again from the top
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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NASA Science Activation
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 13
A dark field surrounds a spiral galaxy with multiple arms. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Gaia Reconstructs a Top View of our Galaxy
Illustration Credit: ESA, Gaia, DPAC, Stefan Payne-Wardenaar

Explanation: What does our Milky Way Galaxy look like from the top?
Because we are on the inside, humanity canCÇÖt get an actual picture.
Recently, however, just such a map has been made using location data
for over a billion stars from ESACÇÖs Gaia mission. The resulting
featured illustration shows that just like many other spiral galaxies,
our Milky Way has distinct spiral arms. Our Sun and most of the bright
stars we see at night are in just one arm: Orion. Gaia data bolsters
previous indications that our Milky Way has more than two spiral arms.
Our Galaxy's center sports a prominent bar. The colors of our Galaxy's
thin disk derive mostly from dark dust, bright blue stars, and red
emission nebula. Although data analysis is ongoing, Gaia was
deactivated in March after a succession mission.

Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: big space egg
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 14
A dark starfield highlights a blue and pink nebula in its center. Some
dark lanes of dust are seen inside nebula's center. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 1360: The Robin's Egg Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Andrea Iorio, Vikas Chander & ShaRA Team

Explanation: This pretty nebula lies some 1,500 light-years away, its
shape and color in this telescopic view reminiscent of a robin's egg.
The cosmic cloud spans about 3 light-years, nestled securely within the
boundaries of the southern constellation of the Furnace (Fornax).
Recognized as a planetary nebula, egg-shaped NGC 1360 doesn't represent
a beginning, though. Instead, it corresponds to a brief and final phase
in the evolution of an aging star. In fact, visible at the center of
the nebula, the central star of NGC 1360 is known to be a binary star
system likely consisting of two evolved white dwarf stars, less massive
but much hotter than the Sun. Their intense and otherwise invisible
ultraviolet radiation has stripped away electrons from the atoms in
their mutually surrounding gaseous shroud. The blue-green hue inside of
NGC 1360 seen here is the strong emission produced as electrons
recombine with doubly ionized oxygen atoms.

Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: pluto below
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
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NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 15

A Plutonian Landscape
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ./APL, Southwest Research
Institute

Explanation: This shadowy landscape of majestic mountains and icy
plains stretches toward the horizon on a small, distant world. It was
captured from a range of about 18,000 kilometers when New Horizons
looked back toward Pluto, 15 minutes after the spacecraft's closest
approach on July 14, 2015. The dramatic, low-angle, near-twilight scene
follows rugged mountains formally known as Norgay Montes from
foreground left, and Hillary Montes along the horizon, giving way to
smooth Sputnik Planum at right. Layers of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere
are also revealed in the backlit view. With a strangely familiar
appearance, the frigid terrain likely includes ices of nitrogen and
carbon monoxide with water-ice mountains rising up to 3,500 meters
(11,000 feet). That's comparable in height to the majestic mountains of
planet Earth. The Plutonian landscape is 380 kilometers (230 miles)
across.

Tomorrow's picture: pinwheel galaxy
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 16

Messier 101
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CFHT, NOAO;
Acknowledgement - K.Kuntz (GSFC), F.Bresolin (U.Hawaii), J.Trauger
(JPL), J.Mould (NOAO), Y.-H.Chu (U. Illinois)

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy M101 is one of the last
entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog, but definitely not one of
the least. About 170,000 light-years across, this galaxy is enormous,
almost twice the size of our own Milky Way. M101 was also one of the
original spiral nebulae observed by Lord Rosse's large 19th century
telescope, the Leviathan of Parsontown. Assembled from 51 exposures
recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope in the 20th and 21st centuries,
with additional data from ground based telescopes, this mosaic spans
about 40,000 light-years across the central region of M101 in one of
the highest definition spiral galaxy portraits ever released from
Hubble. The sharp image shows stunning features of the galaxy's face-on
disk of stars and dust along with background galaxies, some visible
right through M101 itself. Also known as the Pinwheel Galaxy, M101 lies
within the boundaries of the northern constellation Ursa Major, about
25 million light-years away.

Tomorrow's picture: (The) Martian landscape
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 17

Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited
Image Credit: HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona), NASA

Explanation: This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's
HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in
southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE
image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a
little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain,
unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the sci-fi novel, "The
Martian," by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark
Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3
landing site, corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE
frame. For scale, Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would
be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3
landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real
life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site.

Tomorrow's picture: fly over pluto
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 18

Pluto Flyover from New Horizons
Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, SwRI, P. Schenk & J. Blackwell (LPI); Music
Open Sea Morning by Puddle of Infinity

Explanation: What if you could fly over Pluto -- what might you see?
The New Horizons spacecraft did just this in 2015 July as it shot past
the distant world at a speed of about 80,000 kilometers per hour.
Images from this spectacular passage have been color enhanced,
vertically scaled, and digitally combined into the featured two-minute
time-lapse video. As your journey begins, light dawns on mountains
thought to be composed of water ice but colored by frozen nitrogen.
Soon, to your right, you see a flat sea of mostly solid nitrogen that
has segmented into strange polygons that are thought to have bubbled up
from a comparatively warm interior. Craters and ice mountains are
common sights below. The video dims and ends over terrain dubbed bladed
because it shows 500-meter high ridges separated by kilometer-sized
gaps. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft has too much momentum to ever
return to Pluto and is now headed out of our Solar System.

Tomorrow's picture: moon Charon
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 19

Charon Flyover from New Horizons
Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, SwRI, P. Schenk & J. Blackwell (LPI);
Music: Juicy by ALBIS

Explanation: What if you could fly over Pluto's moon Charon -- what
might you see? The New Horizons spacecraft did just this in 2015 July
as it zipped past Pluto and Charon with cameras blazing. The images
recorded allowed for a digital reconstruction of much of Charon's
surface, further enabling the creation of fictitious flights over
Charon created from this data. One such fanciful, minute-long,
time-lapse video is shown here with vertical heights and colors of
surface features digitally enhanced. Your journey begins over a wide
chasm that divides different types of Charon's landscapes, a chasm that
might have formed when Charon froze through. You soon turn north and
fly over a colorful depression dubbed Mordor that, one hypothesis
holds, is an unusual remnant from an ancient impact. Your voyage
continues over an alien landscape rich with never-before-seen craters,
mountains, and crevices. The robotic New Horizons spacecraft has too
much momentum to ever return to Pluto and Charon and is now headed out
of our Solar System.

Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: volcano sky
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 20
A wide starfield is shown with the dark and light band arching
horizontally across the middle. On the right is a colorful and complex
nebula, and near the top center is a red circular nebula. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way over Maunakea
Image Credit & Copyright: Marzena Rogozinska

Explanation: Have you ever seen the band of our Milky Way Galaxy? In a
clear sky from a dark location at the right time, a faint band of light
becomes visible across the sky. Soon after your eyes become dark
adapted, you might spot the band for the first time. It may then become
obvious. Then spectacular. One reason for your growing astonishment
might be the realization that this fuzzy swath, the Milky Way, contains
billions of stars. Visible in the featured image, high above in the
night sky, the band of the Milky Way Galaxy arcs. Also visible are the
colorful clouds of Rho Ophiuchi on the right, and the red and circular
Zeta Ophiuchi nebula near the top center. Taken in late February from
Maunakea, Hawaii, USA, the foreground telescope is the University of
Hawaii's 2.2-Meter Telescope. Fortunately, you donCÇÖt need to be near
the top of a Hawaiian volcano to see the Milky Way.

Put it All Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: sun station
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 21
The Sun is pictured complete with active regions, filaments, and
prominences. Down the Sun's face is a series of silhouettes that are
the International Space Station passing right in front. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

International Space Station Crosses the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Pau Montplet Sanz

Explanation: Typically, the International Space Station is visible only
at night. Slowly drifting across the night sky as it orbits the Earth,
the International Space Station (ISS) can be seen as a bright spot
about once a month from many locations. The ISS is then visible only
just after sunset or just before sunrise because it shines by reflected
sunlight -- once the ISS enters the Earth's shadow, it will drop out of
sight. The only occasion when the ISS is visible during the day is when
it passes right in front of the Sun. Then, it passes so quickly that
only cameras taking short exposures can visually freeze the ISS's
silhouette onto the background Sun. The featured picture did exactly
that -- it is actually a series of images taken a month ago from Sant
Feliu de Buixalleu, Spain with perfect timing. This image series was
later combined with a separate image highlighting the texture of the
active Sun which included several Sun's prominences around the edge.

Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: pluto below
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 22

Curly Spiral Galaxy M63
Image Credit & Copyright: Alberto Pisabarro

Explanation: A bright spiral galaxy of the northern sky, Messier 63 is
nearby, about 30 million light-years distant toward the loyal
constellation Canes Venatici. Also cataloged as NGC 5055, the majestic
island universe is nearly 100,000 light-years across, about the size of
our own Milky Way. Its bright core and majestic spiral arms lend the
galaxy its popular name, The Sunflower Galaxy. This exceptionally deep
exposure also follows faint loops and curling star streams far into the
galaxy's halo. Extending nearly 180,000 light-years from the galactic
center, the star streams are likely remnants of tidally disrupted
satellites of M63. Other satellite galaxies of M63 can be spotted in
the remarkable wide-field image, including dwarf galaxies, which could
contribute to M63's star streams in the next few billion years.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 23

NGC 6366 vs 47 Ophiuchi
Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco

Explanation: Most globular star clusters roam the halo of our Milky Way
galaxy, but globular cluster NGC 6366 lies close to the galactic plane.
About 12,000 light-years away toward the constellation Ophiuchus, the
cluster's starlight is dimmed and reddened by the Milky Way's
interstellar dust when viewed from planet Earth. As a result, the stars
of NGC 6366 look almost golden in this telescopic scene, especially
when seen next to relatively bright, bluish, and nearby star 47
Ophiuchi. Compared to the hundred thousand stars or so gravitationally
bound in distant NGC 6366, 47 Oph itself is a binary star system a mere
100 light-years away. Still, the co-orbiting stars of 47 Oph are too
close together to be individually distinguished in the image.

Tomorrow's picture: Deimos before sunrise
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 24

Deimos Before Sunrise
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech

Explanation: Deimos takes 30 hours and 18 minutes to complete one orbit
around the Red Planet. That's a little more than one Martian day or sol
which is about 24 hours and 40 minutes long, so Deimos drifts westward
across the Martian sky. About 15 kilometers across at its widest, the
smallest of Mars' two moons is bright though. In fact Deimos is the
brightest celestial object in this Martian skyscape captured before
sunrise by Perseverance on March 1, the 1,433rd sol of the Mars rover's
mission. The image is a composed of 16 exposures recorded by one of the
rover's navigation cameras. The individual exposures were combined into
a single image for an enhanced low light view. Regulus and Algeiba,
bright stars in the constellation Leo, are also visible in the dark
Martian predawn sky.

Tomorrow's picture: beneath Jupiter
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 25
A close-up image is shown of the planet Jupiter. Many clouds are
visible including clouds colored blue near the bottom, on the left, and
white oval clouds on the upper right. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

Beneath Jupiter
Image Credit & Copyright: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS; Processing & License:
Gerald Eichst+ñdt & Se+ín Doran

Explanation: Jupiter is stranger than we knew. NASA's Juno spacecraft
has now completed over 70 swoops past Jupiter as it moves around its
highly elliptical orbit. Pictured from 2017, Jupiter is seen from below
where, surprisingly, the horizontal bands that cover most of the planet
disappear into swirls and complex patterns. A line of white oval clouds
is visible nearer to the equator. Impressive results from Juno show
that Jupiter's weather phenomena can extend deep below its cloud tops,
that Jupiter's center has a core that is unexpectedly large and soft,
and that Jupiter's magnetic field varies greatly with location.
Although Juno is scheduled to keep orbiting Jupiter further into 2025,
at some time the robotic spacecraft will be maneuvered to plunge into
the giant planet.

Jigsaw Jumble: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: galaxy spikes
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 26
An oval galaxy is shown against a field of stars. The outer rings shows
many bright blue stars. In the center is a bright nucleus with eight
spikes jutting out. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Spiral Galaxy NGC 2566 from Webb
Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Leroy

Explanation: WhatCÇÖs happening in the center of spiral galaxy NGC 2566?
First, the eight rays that appear to be coming out of the center in the
featured infrared image are not real CÇö they are diffraction spikes
caused by the mechanical structure of the Webb space telescope itself.
The center of NGC 2566 is bright but not considered unusual, which
means that it likely contains a supermassive black hole, although
currently not very active. At only 76 million light years away, the
light we see from NGC 2566 today left when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
The picturesque galaxy is close enough so that Earthly telescopes,
including Webb and Hubble, can resolve the turbulent clouds of gas and
dust where stars can form and so allows study of stellar evolution. NGC
2566, similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy, is notable for its
bright central bar and its prominent outer spiral arms.

Tomorrow's picture: colorful star clouds
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 27
A very colorful sky field is shown featuring many stars and nebulas
that appear red, yellow, blue, and brown. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

Zeta and Rho Ophiuchi with Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Ireneusz Nowak

Explanation: Behold one of the most photogenic regions of the night
sky, captured impressively. Featured, the band of our Milky Way Galaxy
runs diagonally along the bottom-left corner, while the colorful Rho
Ophiuchi cloud complex is visible just right of center and the large
red circular Zeta Ophiuchi Nebula appears near the top. In general, red
emanates from nebulas glowing in the light of excited hydrogen gas,
while blue marks interstellar dust preferentially reflecting the light
of bright young stars. Thick dust usually appears dark brown. Many
iconic objects of the night sky appear, including (can you find them?)
the bright star Antares, the globular star cluster M4, and the Blue
Horsehead nebula. This wide field composite, taken over 17 hours, was
captured from South Africa last June.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: powerful space jet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 28

Herbig-Haro 24
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI / AURA) / Hubble-Europe
Collaboration
Acknowledgment: D. Padgett (GSFC), T. Megeath (University of Toledo),
B. Reipurth (University of Hawaii)

Explanation: This might look like a double-bladed lightsaber, but these
two cosmic jets actually beam outward from a newborn star in a galaxy
near you. Constructed from Hubble Space Telescope image data, the
stunning scene spans about half a light-year across Herbig-Haro 24 (HH
24), some 1,300 light-years or 400 parsecs away in the stellar
nurseries of the Orion B molecular cloud complex. Hidden from direct
view, HH 24's central protostar is surrounded by cold dust and gas
flattened into a rotating accretion disk. As material from the disk
falls toward the young stellar object, it heats up. Opposing jets are
blasted out along the system's rotation axis. Cutting through the
region's interstellar matter, the narrow, energetic jets produce a
series of glowing shock fronts along their path.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 29

Irregular Dwarf Galaxy Sextans A
Image Credit & Copyright: Franz Hofmann, Gemsbock Observatory

Explanation: Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the attention,
flaunting young, bright, blue star clusters and pinkish star forming
regions along graceful, symmetric spiral arms. But small galaxies form
stars too, like irregular dwarf galaxy Sextans A. Its young star
clusters and star forming regions are gathered into a gumdrop-shaped
region a mere 5,000 light-years across. Seen toward the navigational
constellation Sextans, the small galaxy lies some 4.5 million
light-years distant. That puts it near the outskirts of the local group
of galaxies, that includes the large, massive spirals Andromeda and our
own Milky Way. Brighter Milky Way foreground stars appear spiky and
yellowish in this colorful telescopic view of Sextans A.

Tomorrow's picture: Mars in the loop
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 30

Mars in the Loop
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)

Explanation: This composite of images spaced a weather-permitting 5 to
9 days apart, from 2024 September 19 (top right) through 2025 May 18
(bottom left), faithfully traces ruddy-colored Mars as it makes a
clockwise loop through the constellations Gemini and Cancer in planet
Earth's night sky. You can connect the dots and dates with your cursor
over the image, but be sure to check out this animation of the Red
Planet's 2024/25 retrograde motion. Of course Mars didn't actually
reverse the direction of its orbit. Instead, the apparent backwards
motion with respect to the background stars is a reflection of the
orbital motion of Earth itself. Retrograde motion can be seen each time
Earth overtakes and laps planets orbiting farther from the Sun, the
Earth moving more rapidly through its own relatively close-in orbit. In
this case Mars' apparent eastward motion began to reverse around
December 8, when it seemed to linger near open star cluster M44 in
Cancer. After wandering back to the west, under Gemini's bright stars
Castor and Pollux, Mars returned to pose near M44 by early May. At its
brightest near opposition on 2025 January 16, Mars was a mere 96
million kilometers away.

Tomorrow's picture: afterimage
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 May 31

Afterimage Sunset
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace

Explanation: On May 7, the Sun setting behind a church bell tower was
captured in this filtered and manipulated digital skyscape from Ragusa,
Sicily, planet Earth. In this version of the image the colors look
bizarre. Still, an intriguing optical illusion known as an afterimage
can help you experience the same scene with a more natural looking
appearance. To try it, find the sunspots of active region AR4079
grouped near the bottom of the blue solar disk. Relax and stare at the
dark sunspot group for about 30 seconds, then close your eyes or shift
your gaze to a plain white surface. In a moment an afterimage of the
sunset should faintly appear. But the afterimage sunset will have this
image's complementary colors and a more normal yellow Sun against a
familiar blue sky.

Tomorrow's picture: wildly interacting
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 2
The featured image shows a night sky with a large complex nebula in red
and blue. The Veil Nebula has several famous components such as the Bat
and Witch's Broom Nebulas. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Veil Nebula: Wisps of an Ancient Supernova
Image Credit & Copyright: Abdullah Alharbi

Explanation: Wisps like this are all that remain visible of a Milky Way
star. About 7,000 years ago that star exploded in a supernova, leaving
the Veil Nebula. At the time, the expanding cloud was likely as bright
as a crescent Moon, remaining visible for weeks to people living at the
dawn of recorded history. Today, the resulting supernova remnant, also
known as the Cygnus Loop, has faded and is now visible only through a
small telescope directed toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).
The remaining Veil Nebula is physically huge, however, and even though
it lies about 1,400 light-years distant, it covers over five times the
size of the full Moon. The featured picture was taken in Kuwait in
mid-2024 and features light emitted by hydrogen in red and oxygen in
blue. In deep images of the complete Veil Nebula like this, even
studious readers might not be able to identify the iconic filaments.

Piece it All Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: rainbow sky
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 3
A starfield is seen over water, clouds, and the lights of a city below.
The starfield is oddly not black, but shows a repeating assortment of
transparent colors diagonally from the lower left to the upper right.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Rainbow Airglow over the Azores
Image Credit & Copyright: Miguel Claro (TWAN); Rollover Annotation:
Judy Schmidt

Explanation: Why would the sky glow like a giant repeating rainbow?
Airglow. Now, air glows all of the time, but it is usually hard to see.
A disturbance however -- like an approaching storm -- may cause
noticeable rippling in the Earth's atmosphere. These gravity waves are
oscillations in air analogous to those created when a rock is thrown in
calm water. The long-duration exposure nearly along the vertical walls
of airglow likely made the undulating structure particularly visible.
OK, but where do the colors originate? The deep red glow likely
originates from OH molecules about 87 kilometers high, excited by
ultraviolet light from the Sun. The orange and green airglow is likely
caused by sodium and oxygen atoms slightly higher up. The featured
image was captured during a climb up Mount Pico in the Azores of
Portugal. Ground lights originate from the island of Faial in the
Atlantic Ocean. A spectacular sky is visible through this banded
airglow, with the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy running up the
image center, and M31, the Andromeda Galaxy, visible near the top left.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Anchorage on June 11
Tomorrow's picture: Rubin begins
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 4
A large telescope appears on the left. The band of our Milky Way Galaxy
extends from the telescope to the upper right of the image. The horizon
has a slight glow. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

A Milky Road to the Rubin Observatory
Image Credit: NSF, DOE, Rubin Obs., Paulo Assun+º+úo Lago (Rubin Obs.)

Explanation: Is the sky the same every night? No -- the night sky
changes every night in many ways. To better explore how the night sky
changes, the USA's NSF and DOE commissioned the Vera C. Rubin
Observatory in Cerro Pach+|n, Chile. In final testing before routine
operations, Rubin will begin to explore these nightly changes -- slight
differences that can tell us much about our amazing universe and its
surprising zoo of objects. With a mirror over 8 meters across, Rubin
will continually reimage the entire visible sky every few nights to
discover new supernovas, potentially dangerous asteroids, faint comets,
and variable stars -- as well as mapping out the visible universe's
large-scale structure. Pictured, the distant central band of our Milky
Way Galaxy appears to flow out from the newly operational observatory.
Taken last month, the featured picture is a composite of 21 images
across the night sky, capturing airglow on the horizon and the Small
Magellanic Cloud galaxy on the lower left.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Anchorage on June 11
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 5

Savudrija Star Trails
Image Credit & Copyright: Branko Nadj

Explanation: Savudrija lighthouse shines along the coast near the
northern end of the Istrian peninsula in this well-composed night
skyscape. A navigational aid for sailors on the Adriatic Sea, the
historic lighthouse was constructed in the early 19th century. But an
even older aid to navigation shines in the sky above, Polaris, alpha
star of the constellation Ursa Minor and also known as the North Star.
In this scene Polaris forms the shortest bright arc near the North
Celestial Pole, the extension of Earth's axis of rotation into space.
Of course, the North Celestial Pole lies exactly at the center of all
the concentric startrails. The composite image is a digital stack of
400 exposures, each 30 seconds long, taken with camera and tripod fixed
to a rotating planet.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 6

NGC 6302: The Butterfly Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

Explanation: The bright clusters and nebulae of planet Earth's night
sky are often given the names of flowers or insects, and its whopping 3
light-year wingspan, NGC 6302 is no exception. With an estimated
surface temperature of about 250,000 degrees C, the central star of the
planetary nebula is transforming into a white dwarf star, becoming
exceptionally hot, and shining brightly in ultraviolet light. The
central star is hidden from direct view by a torus of dust, but its
energetic ultraviolet light ionizes atoms in the nebula. In this sharp,
telescopic view composed with narrowband image data, the ionized
hydrogen and doubly ionized oxygen atoms are shown in their
characteristic red and blue-green hues to reveal a stunning complex of
knots and filaments within the nebula's wing-like bipolar outflows. NGC
6302 lies about 4,000 light-years away in the arachnologically correct
constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius).

Tomorrow's picture: perseverance with ingenuity
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 7

Perseverance Selfie with Ingenuity
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS

Explanation: On the Mars rover's mission Sol 46 or Earth date April 6,
2021, Perseverance held out a robotic arm to take its first selfie on
Mars. The WATSON camera at the end of the arm was designed to take
close-ups of Martian rocks and surface details though, and not a quick
snap shot of friends and smiling faces. In the end, teamwork and weeks
of planning on Mars time was required to program a complex series of
exposures and camera motions to include Perseverance and its
surroundings. The resulting 62 frames were composed into a detailed
mosaic, one of the most complicated Mars rover selfies ever taken. In
this version of the selfie, the rover's Mastcam-Z and SuperCam
instruments are looking toward WATSON and the end of the rover's
outstretched arm. About 4 meters (13 feet) from Perseverance is a
robotic companion, the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. Perseverance has now
spent over 1,500 sols exploring the surface of the Red Planet. On Earth
date January 18, 2024, Ingenuity made its 72nd and final flight through
the thin Martian atmosphere.

Tomorrow's picture: Facing NGC 3344
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 8
Grand spiral galaxy NGC 3344 is shown. Spiral arms with stars, star
clusters, and nebula are visible. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Facing NGC 3344
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Explanation: From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC
3344 face-on. Nearly 40,000 light-years across, the big, beautiful
spiral galaxy is located just 20 million light-years away in the
constellation of Leo Minor. This multi-color Hubble Space Telescope
close-up of NGC 3344 includes remarkable details from near infrared to
ultraviolet wavelengths. The frame extends some 15,000 light-years
across the spiral's central regions. From the core outward, the
galaxy's colors change from the yellowish light of old stars in the
center to young blue star clusters and reddish star forming regions
along the loose, fragmented spiral arms. Of course, the bright stars
with a spiky appearance are in front of NGC 3344 and lie well within
our own Milky Way.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Anchorage on Wednesday, June 11
at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: cosmic double
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 9
A starfield is shown with many stars and several faint light brown dust
clouds. In the center is a large cloud with brown dust and gas shells
lined in blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Between Scylla and Charybdis: A Double Cosmic Discovery
Image Credit: M. Drechsler, Y. Sainty, A. Soto, N. Martino, L.
Leroux-Gere, S. Khallouqui, & A. Kaeouach; Text: Ogetay Kayali
(Michigan Tech U.)

Explanation: Can you identify this celestial object? Likely not CÇö
because this is a discovery image. Massive stars forge heavy elements
in their cores and, after a few million years, end their lives in
powerful supernova explosions. These remnants cool relatively quickly
and fade, making them difficult to detect. To uncover such faint,
previously unknown supernova remnants, a dedicated group of amateur
astrophotographers searched through sky surveys for possible supernova
remnant candidates. The result: the first-ever image of supernova
remnant G115.5+9.1 CÇö named Scylla by its discoverersCÇöglowing faintly in
the constellation of the mythological King of Aethiopia: Cepheus.
Emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red, and faint
emission from oxygen is shown in hues of blue. Surprisingly, another
discovery lurked to the upper right: a faint, previously unknown
planetary nebula candidate. In keeping with mythological tradition, it
was named Charybdis (Sai 2) CÇö a nod to the ancient Greek expression
"caught between Scylla and Charybdis" from HomerCÇÖs Odyssey.

Tomorrow's picture: leaky space orb
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 10
A picture of a mostly white orb is shown that has many craters and
crevasses. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Enceladus in True Color
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, SSI, Cassini Imaging Team

Explanation: Do oceans under the ice of Saturn's moon Enceladus contain
life? A reason to think so involves long features -- some dubbed tiger
stripes -- that are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy
interior into space. These surface cracks create clouds of fine ice
particles over the moon's South Pole and create Saturn's mysterious
E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft
that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution
image of Enceladus is shown in true color from a close flyby. The deep
crevasses are partly shadowed. Why Enceladus is active remains a
mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size,
appears quite dead. A analysis of ejected ice grains has yielded
evidence that complex organic molecules. These large carbon-rich
molecules bolster -- but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus'
surface could contain life.

APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Anchorage tomorrow (Wednesday)
at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: top 25
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 11
A grid of images of the 25 brightest stars on the night sky is shown.
The grid is 5 x 5. Some stars look bluer or more orange than others
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

25 Brightest Stars in the Night Sky
Image Credit & Copyright: Tragoolchitr Jittasaiyapan

Explanation: Do you know the names of some of the brightest stars? It's
likely that you do, even though some bright stars have names so old
they date back to near the beginning of written language. Many world
cultures have their own names for the brightest stars, and it is
culturally and historically important to remember them. In the interest
of clear global communication, however, the International Astronomical
Union (IAU) has begun to designate standardized star names. Featured
here in true color are the 25 brightest stars in the night sky,
currently as seen by humans, coupled with their IAU-recognized names.
Some star names have interesting meanings, including Sirius ("the
scorcher" in Latin), Vega ("falling" in Arabic), and Antares ("rival to
Mars" in Greek). You are likely even familiar with the name of at least
one star too dim to make this list: Polaris.

APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Anchorage TONIGHT (Wednesday) at
7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 12

Solar Eclipse
Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Espenak

Explanation: On April 20, 2023 the shadow of a New Moon raced across
planet Earth's southern hemisphere. When viewed along a narrow path
that mostly avoided landfall, the Moon in silhouette created a hybrid
solar eclipse. Hybrid eclipses are rare and can be seen as a total
eclipse or an annular "ring of fire" eclipse depending on the
observer's position. Viewers of this much anticipated hybrid event were
able to witness a total solar eclipse while anchored in the Indian
Ocean near the centerline of the eclipse track off the coast of western
Australia. This ship-borne image from renowned eclipse chaser Fred
Espenak captured the active Sun's magnificent outer atmosphere, or
solar corona, streaming into space. The composite of 11 exposures
ranging from 1/2000 to 1/2 second, taken during the 62 seconds of
totality, records an extended range of brightness to follow alluring
details of the corona not quite visible to the eye.

Fred Espenak (1953-2025)
Tomorrow's picture: An Interesting Voyage
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 13

Rubin's Galaxy
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, B. Holwerda (University of Louisville)

Explanation: In this Hubble Space Telescope image the bright, spiky
stars lie in the foreground toward the heroic northern constellation
Perseus and well within our own Milky Way galaxy. In sharp focus beyond
is UGC 2885, a giant spiral galaxy about 232 million light-years
distant. Some 800,000 light-years across compared to the Milky Way's
diameter of 100,000 light-years or so, it has around 1 trillion stars.
That's about 10 times as many stars as the Milky Way. Part of an
investigation to understand how galaxies can grow to such enormous
sizes, UGC 2885 was also part of An Interesting Voyage and American
astronomer Vera Rubin's pioneering study of the rotation of spiral
galaxies. Her work was the first to convincingly demonstrate the
dominating presence of dark matter in our universe. A new U.S. coin has
been issured to honor Vera Rubin, while the Vera C. Rubin Observatory
is scheduled to unveil images from its first look at the cosmos on June
23.

Tomorrow's picture: criss-crossing
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 14
A night sky is shown with many stars and streaks. In the foreground at
the bottom are hills, a river, and the red and white streaks of car
lights. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Meteors and Satellite Trails over the Limay River
Image Credit & Copyright: Mart+¡n Molin+¬

Explanation: What are all those streaks in the sky? A galaxy, many
satellite trails, and a few meteors. First, far in the distance, the
majestic band of our Milky Way Galaxy runs down the left. Mirroring it
on the right are several parallel trails of Earth-orbiting Starlink
satellites. Many fainter satellite trails also crisscross the image.
The two short and bright streaks are meteors CÇö likely members of the
annual Eta Aquariids meteor shower. The planet Venus shines on the
lower right. Venus and the satellites shine by reflected sunlight. The
featured picture is a composite of exposures all taken in a few hours
on May 4 over the Limay River in Argentina.

Tomorrow's picture: One Sun
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 15
Two images are shown side by side. On the left is a sunset seen from
Earth, while on the right is a sunset seen from Mars. The Earth sunset
is quite orange, while the Mars sunset is quite blue. The Sun appears
angularly smaller from Mars than from the Earth. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Two Worlds, One Sun
Left Image Credit & Copyright: Damia Bouic;
Right Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS; Digital processing: Damia
Bouic

Explanation: How different does sunset appear from Mars than from
Earth? For comparison, two images of our common star were taken at
sunset, one from Earth and one from Mars. These images were scaled to
have the same angular width and are featured here side-by-side. A quick
inspection will reveal that the Sun appears slightly smaller from Mars
than from Earth. This makes sense since Mars is 50% further from the
Sun than Earth. More striking, perhaps, is that the Martian sunset is
noticeably bluer near the Sun than the typically orange colors near the
setting Sun from Earth. The reason for the blue hues from Mars is not
fully understood, but thought to be related to forward scattering
properties of Martian dust. The terrestrial sunset was taken in 2012
March from Marseille, France, while the Martian sunset was captured in
2015 by NASA's robotic Curiosity rover from Gale crater on Mars.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Cork, Ireland on June 24
Tomorrow's picture: S30E1
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 16

APOD is 30 Years Old Today
Image Credit: Pixelization of Van Gogh's The Starry Night by Dario
Giannobile

Explanation: APOD is 30 years old today. In celebration, today's
picture uses past APODs as tiles arranged to create a single pixelated
image that might remind you of one of the most well-known and evocative
depictions of planet Earth's night sky. In fact, this Starry Night
consists of 1,836 individual images contributed to APOD over the last 5
years in a mosaic of 32,232 tiles. Today, APOD would like to offer a
sincere thank you to our contributors, volunteers, and readers. Over
the last 30 years your continuing efforts have allowed us to enjoy,
inspire, and share a discovery of the cosmos.

Tomorrow's picture: find the space rose
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 18
A detailed view of part of Earth's Moon is shown with many craters
visible. On the lower right, silhouetted against the comparatively
bright Moon, is a small dark silhouette of the International Space
Station. Many of the solar panels on the station are discernable.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Space Station Silhouette on the Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Holland

Explanation: What's that unusual spot on the Moon? It's the
International Space Station. Using precise timing, the Earth-orbiting
space platform was photographed in front of a partially lit gibbous
Moon in 2019. The featured image was taken from Palo Alto, California,
USA with an exposure time of only 1/667 of a second. In contrast, the
duration of the transit of the ISS across the entire Moon was about
half a second. A close inspection of this unusually crisp ISS
silhouette will reveal the outlines of numerous solar panels and
trusses. The bright crater Tycho is visible on the lower left, as well
as comparatively rough, light colored terrain known as highlands and
relatively smooth, dark colored areas known as maria. Downloadable apps
can tell you when the International Space Station will be visible from
your area.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Cork, Ireland on June 24
Tomorrow's picture: galaxy in a bubble
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 17
A starfield is covered with a light red glow. Several nebulas are seen
near the center. The famous Rosette nebula appears in blue and white
near the image bottom. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Rosette Nebula Deep Field
Image Credit: Toni Fabiani M+¬ndez

Explanation: Can you find the Rosette Nebula? The red flowery-looking
nebula just above the image center may seem a good choice, but that's
not it. The famous Rosette Nebula is really located on the lower right,
here colored blue and white, and connected to the other nebulas by
gold-colored filaments. Because the featured image of Rosette's field
is so wide, and because of its deep red exposure, it seems to contain
other flowers. Designated NGC 2237, the center of the Rosette Nebula is
populated by the bright blue stars of open cluster NGC 2244, whose
winds and energetic light are evacuating the nebula's center. The
Rosette Nebula is about 5,000 light years distant and, just by itself,
spans about three times the diameter of a full moon. This flowery field
can be found toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: not a crater
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 19

NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble
Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander

Explanation: Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million
light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo.
Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in
small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of
other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in
this colorful cosmic portrait though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years
the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced
with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue
stars. The deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter,
gigantic, bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris,
streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone
mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past.

Tomorrow's picture: lunistice
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 20

Major Lunar Standstill 2024-2025
Image Credit & Copyright: Luca Vanzella, Alister Ling

Explanation: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, planet Earth lies on the
horizon. in this stack of panoramic composite images. In a monthly time
series arranged vertically top to bottom the ambitious photographic
project follows the annual north-south swing of sunrise points, from
June solstice to December solstice and back again. It also follows the
corresponding, but definitely harder to track, Full Moon rise. Of
course, the north-south swing of moonrise runs opposite sunrise along
the horizon. But these rising Full Moons also span a wider range on the
horizon than the sunrises. That's because the well-planned project (as
shown in this video) covers the period June 2024 to June 2025, centered
on a major lunar standstill. Major lunar standstills represent extremes
in the north-south range of moonrise driven by the 18.6 year precession
period of the lunar orbit.

Tomorrow's picture: solstice
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 21

Two Worlds, Two Analemmas
Image Credit: (left) Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN) - (right):
NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU/TAMU

Explanation: Sure, that figure-8 shaped curve you get when you mark the
position of the Sun in Earth's sky at the same time each day over one
year is called an analemma. On the left, Earth's figure-8 analemma was
traced by combining wide-angle digital images recorded during the year
from December 2011 through December 2012. But the shape of an analemma
depends on the eccentricity of a planet's orbit and the tilt of its
axis of rotation, so analemma curves can look different for different
worlds. Take Mars for example. The Red Planet's axial tilt is similar
to Earth's, but its orbit around the same sun is more eccentric (less
circular) than Earth's orbit. As seen from the Martian surface, the
analemma traced in the right hand panel is shaped more like a tear
drop. The Mars rover Opportunity captured the images used over the
Martian year corresponding to Earth dates July 2006 to June 2008. Of
course, each world's solstice dates still lie at the top and bottom of
their different analemma curves. The last Mars northern summer solstice
was May 29, 2025. Our fair planet's 2025 northern summer solstice is at
June 21, 2:42 UTC.

Tomorrow's picture: just a bowl of spherules
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 22
The image looks down on an orange rock on Mars. On the rock are many
nearly spherical smaller rocks. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

A Berry Bowl of Martian Spherules
Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Curiosity Rover

Explanation: How were these unusual Martian spherules created?
Thousands of unusual gray spherules made of iron and rock and dubbed
blueberries were found embedded in and surrounding rocks near the
landing site of the robot Opportunity rover on Mars in 2004. To help
investigate their origin, Opportunity found a surface dubbed the Berry
Bowl with an indentation that was rich in the Martian orbs. The Berry
Bowl is pictured here, imaged during rover's 48th Martian day. The
average size of a Martian blueberry rock is only about 4 millimeters
across. By analyzing a circular patch in the rock surface to the left
of the densest patch of spherules, Opportunity obtained data showing
that the underlying rock has a much different composition than the
hematite rich blueberries. This information contributes to the growing
consensus that these small, strange, gray orbs were slowly deposited
from a bath of dirty water.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Cork, Ireland on Tuesday, June
24 at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: heart stars
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 23
A star field is shown in infrared light. In the center is an extremely
complex nebula that is outlines an iconic heart. Glowing gas shades the
center of the heart red. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

W5: Pillars of Star Formation
Image Credit: NASA, WISE, IRSA; Processing & Copyright : Francesco
Antonucci

Explanation: How do stars form? Images of the star forming region W5
like those in the infrared by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey
Explorer (WISE, later NEOWISE) satellite provide clear clues with
indications that massive stars near the center of empty cavities are
older than stars near the edges. A likely reason for this is that the
older stars in the center are actually triggering the formation of the
younger edge stars. The triggered star formation occurs when hot
outflowing gas compresses cooler gas into knots dense enough to
gravitationally contract into stars. In the featured scientifically
colored infrared image, spectacular pillars left slowly evaporating
from the hot outflowing gas provide further visual clues. W5 is also
known as Westerhout 5 (W5) and IC 1848. Together with IC 1805, the
nebulas form a complex region of star formation popularly dubbed the
Heart and Soul Nebulas. The featured image highlights a part of W5
spanning about 2,000 light years that is rich in star forming pillars.
W5 lies about 6,500 light years away toward the constellation of
Cassiopeia.

APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Cork, Ireland tomorrow (Tuesday)
at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: spiral spiral
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 24
A sprawling spiral galaxy is shown in great detail. This galaxy has
blue spiral arms and a bright center that itself seems to look like a
spiral galaxy. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

In the Center of Spiral Galaxy M61
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, ESO; Processing & Copyright: Robert
Gendler

Explanation: Is there a spiral galaxy in the center of this spiral
galaxy? Sort of. Image data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the
European Southern Observatory, and smaller telescopes on planet Earth
are combined in this detailed portrait of face-on spiral galaxy Messier
61 (M61) and its bright center. A mere 55 million light-years away in
the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, M61 is also known as NGC 4303. It's
considered to be an example of a barred spiral galaxy similar to our
own Milky Way. Like other spiral galaxies, M61 also features sweeping
spiral arms, cosmic dust lanes, pinkish star forming regions, and young
blue star clusters. Its core houses an active supermassive black hole
surrounded by a bright nuclear spiral -- infalling star-forming gas
that itself looks like a separate spiral galaxy.

APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Cork, Ireland TONIGHT (Tuesday)
at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space and time
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 25

Rubin's First Look: A Sagittarius Skyscape
Image Credit & License: NSFCÇôDOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Explanation: This interstellar skyscape spans over 4 degrees across
crowded starfields toward the constellation Sagittarius and the central
Milky Way. A First Look image captured at the new NSFCÇôDOE Vera C. Rubin
Observatory, the bright nebulae and star clusters featured include
famous stops on telescopic tours of the cosmos: Messier 8 and Messier
20. An expansive star-forming region over a hundred light-years across,
Messier 8 is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. About 4,000 light-years
away the Lagoon Nebula harbors a remarkable cluster of young, massive
stars. Their intense radiation and stellar winds energize and agitate
this cosmic lagoon's turbulent depths. Messier 20's popular moniker is
the Trifid. Divided into three parts by dark interstellar dust lanes,
the Trifid Nebula's glowing hydrogen gas creates its dominant red
color. But contrasting blue hues in the colorful Trifid are due to dust
reflected starlight. The Rubin Observatory visited the Trifid-Lagoon
field to acquire all the image data during parts of four nights (May
1-4). At full resolution, Rubin's magnificent Sagittarius skyscape is
84,000 pixels wide and 51,500 pixels tall.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 June 26

The Seagull Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Timothy Martin

Explanation: An interstellar expanse of glowing gas and obscuring dust
presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth,
suggesting its popular moniker, the Seagull Nebula. This broadband
portrait of the cosmic bird covers a 3.5-degree wide swath across the
plane of the Milky Way, in the direction of Sirius, alpha star of the
constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major). The bright head of the
Seagull Nebula is cataloged as IC 2177, a compact, dusty emission and
reflection nebula with embedded massive star HD 53367. The larger
emission region, encompassing objects with other catalog designations,
is Likely part of an extensive shell structure swept up by successive
supernova explosions. The notable bluish arc below and right of center
is a bow shock from runaway star FN Canis Majoris. Dominated by the
reddish glow of atomic hydrogen, this complex of interstellar gas and
dust clouds with other stars of the Canis Majoris OB1 association spans
over 200 light-years at the Seagull Nebula's estimated 3,800 light-year
distance.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 June 27

Messier 109
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Eder

Explanation: Big beautiful barred spiral galaxy Messier 109 is the
109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and
Star Clusters. You can find it just below the Big Dipper's bowl in the
northern constellation Ursa Major. In fact, bright dipper star Phecda,
Gamma Ursa Majoris, produces the glare at the upper right corner of
this telescopic frame. M109's prominent central bar gives the galaxy
the appearance of the Greek letter "theta", +., a common mathematical
symbol representing an angle. M109 spans a very small angle in planet
Earth's sky though, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small
angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the
galaxy's estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member
of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is
joined by spiky foreground stars. Three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies
also on the scene, identified (top to bottom) as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and
UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger barred spiral
galaxy Messier 109.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 June 28

Lunar Farside
Image Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter

Explanation: Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always
presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar
orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this
sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide
angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic
of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011,
the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters
per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside
looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar
maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker,
making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the
surface and form dark, smooth maria.

Tomorrow's picture: dark sand
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 June 29
Viewed from above, a landscape on Mars features many ridges of pink
sand. Superposed on some of these ridges are thin brown stipes. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Dark Sand Cascades on Mars
Image Credit: NASA, HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona),

Explanation: Are these trees growing on Mars? No. Groups of dark brown
streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on
melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The featured image
was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark
sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible
as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring
near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving
dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees
standing in front of the lighter regions but cast no shadows. Objects
about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about
one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing
plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even while the
image was being taken.

Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: raining stars
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 June 30
A spiral galaxy is shown with an unusual feature. Faint wisps of stars
are seen both above and below the galaxy. A wisp above appears like an
umbrella. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy
Image Credit: Rabeea Alkuwari & Anas Almajed

Explanation: It's raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic
umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a
small satellite galaxy. The main galaxy, spiral galaxy NGC 4651, is
about the size of our Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to
extend some 100 thousand light-years above this galaxy's bright disk. A
small galaxy was likely torn apart by repeated encounters as it swept
back and forth on eccentric orbits through NGC 4651. The remaining
stars will surely fall back and become part of a combined larger galaxy
over the next few million years. The featured deep image was captured
in long exposures from Saudi Arabia. The Umbrella Galaxy lies about 50
million light-years distant toward the well-groomed northern
constellation of Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices).

APOD in a Modern Format StellarSnap
Tomorrow's picture: eye sky a dragon
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 1
A fisheye image of the sky is shown on the left with the
landscape-foreground surrounding it. The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy
runs down the center. At first glance the sky looks like oddly like an
eye of a dragon. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Eye Sky a Dragon
Image Credit & Copyright: Anton Komlev

Explanation: What do you see when you look into this sky? In the
center, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you
see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see the central
band of our Milky Way Galaxy running down the middle? Do you see the
ruins of an abandoned outpost on a hill? (The outpost is on Askold
Island, Russia.) Do you see a photographer with a headlamp
contemplating surreal surroundings? (The featured image is a panorama
of 38 images taken last month and compiled into a Little Planet
projection.) Do you see a rugged path lined with steps? Or do you see
the eye of a dragon?

Tomorrow's picture: in spired
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 2
A skyscape is seen above an water inlet. Two rock spires rise from the
sea, and the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy is seen between them.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way Through Otago Spires
Image Credit & Copyright: Kavan Chay; Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan
Tech U.)

Explanation: Does the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks?
No. Capturing this stunning alignment took careful planning: being in
the right place at the right time. In the featured image taken in June
2024 from Otago, New Zealand, the bright central core of our Milky Way
Galaxy, home to the many of our Galaxy's 400 billion stars, can be seen
between two picturesque rocks spires. For observers in Earth's Northern
Hemisphere, the core is only visible throughout the summer. As Earth
orbits the Sun, different parts of the Milky Way become visible at
different angles at different times of the night. As Earth rotates, the
orientation of the Milky Way in the sky also shifts -- sometimes
standing vertically as seen in the featured image, and other times
stretching parallel to the horizon, making it harder to see. In early
June, observers can watch it emerge low on the horizon after sunset and
gradually arc upward to reveal its full grandeur.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 3
A starfield is shown with constellations annotated. The band of our
Milky Way galaxy runs diagonally from the upper left to the lower
right. Just above the image center is a faint dot that is annotated in
yellow -- V462 LUPI, a nova that was visible with the unaided eye last
week and is currently still visible with binoculars. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Nova V462 Lupi Now Visible
Image Credit & Copyright: Matipon Tangmatitham (NARIT)

Explanation: If you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear
explosion from a white dwarf star. Possibly two. Such explosions are
known as novas and the detonations are currently faintly visible with
the unaided eye in Earth's southern hemisphere -- but are more easily
seen with binoculars. Pictured, Nova Lupi 2025 (V462 Lupi) was captured
toward the southern constellation of the Wolf (Lupus) last week near
the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Nova Lupi 2025 was
originally discovered on June 12 and peaked in brightness about a week
later. Similarly, Nova Velorum 2025, toward the southern constellation
of the Ship Sails (Vela), was discovered on June 25 and peaked a few
days later. A nova somewhere in our Galaxy becomes briefly visible to
the unaided eye only every year or two, so it is quite unusual to have
two novas visible simultaneously. Meanwhile, humanity awaits even a
different nova: T Coronae Borealis, which should become visible in
northern skies and is expected to become even brighter.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 4

NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
Image Credit & Copyright: Alberto Pisabarro

Explanation: Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC
6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image
data captured with a small telescope on planet Earth. The field of view
spans spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons on the sky toward the
northern constellation Cepheus. Seen through faint interstellar dust
clouds near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the stars of open
cluster NGC 6939 are 5,600 light-years in the distance, near bottom
right in the frame. Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is at top left, but
lies some 22 million light-years away. In the last 100 years, 10
supernovae have been discovered in NGC 6946, the latest one seen in
2017. By comparison, the average rate of supernovae in our Milky Way is
about 1 every 100 years or so. Of course, NGC 6946 is also known as The
Fireworks Galaxy.

Tomorrow's picture: squid game
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 5

Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco

Explanation: Difficult to capture, this mysterious, squid-shaped
interstellar cloud spans nearly three full moons in planet Earth's sky.
Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid
Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue
emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded
by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and
nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one
investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300
light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would
represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system
of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the
nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over
50 light-years across.

Tomorrow's picture: north pole of Mars
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 July 6
A computer construction of what the north pole of Mars looks like. The
picture was constructed from measured altitude data. A spiral landscape
is seen that is colored red but is mostly covered with white ice.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

The Spiral North Pole of Mars
Image Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin; NASA MGS MOLA Science Team

Explanation: Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars? Each
winter this pole develops a new outer layer about one meter thick
composed of carbon dioxide frozen out of the thin Martian atmosphere.
This fresh layer is deposited on a water-ice layer that exists year
round. Strong winds blow down from above the cap's center and swirl due
to the spin of the red planet -- contributing to Planum Boreum's spiral
structure. The featured image is a perspective mosaic generated in 2017
from numerous images taken by ESA's Mars Express and elevations
extracted from the laser altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor
mission.

Tomorrow's picture: alien comet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 7
A drawing of our Solar System shows the orbits of Jupiter and interior
planets. A white line shows the trajectory of passing comet 3I/ATLAS.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech

Explanation: It came from outer space. An object from outside our Solar
System is now passing through at high speed. Classified as a comet
because of its gaseous coma, 3I/ATLAS is only the third identified
macroscopic object as being so alien. The comet's trajectory is shown
in white on the featured map, where the orbits of Jupiter, Mars, and
Earth are shown in gold, red, and blue. Currently Comet 3I/ATLAS is
about the distance of Jupiter from the Sun -- but closing, with its
closest approach to our Sun expected to be within the orbit of Mars in
late October. Expected to pass near both Mars and Jupiter, 3I/ATLAS is
not expected to pass close to the Earth. The origin of Comet 3I/ATLAS
remains unknown. Although initial activity indicates a relatively
normal comet, future observations about 3I/ATLAS' composition and
nature will surely continue.

Piece it All Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: stellar sisters
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 8
A cluster of bright blue stars is seen near the bottom of this
starfield. Nebula around the stars is blue near the stars but red
elsewhere. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

The Pleiades in Red and Blue
Image Credit & Copyright: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.) Text: Ogetay
Kayali (Michigan Tech U.)

Explanation: If you have looked at the sky and seen a group of stars
about the size of the full Moon, that's the Pleiades (M45). Perhaps the
most famous star cluster in the sky, its brightest stars can be seen
even from the light-polluted cities. But your unaided eye can also see
its nebulosity -- the gas and dust surrounding it -- under dark skies.
However, telescopes can catch even more. The bright blue stars of the
Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters, light up their surrounding
dust, causing it to appear a diffuse blue that can only be seen under
long exposures. But that's not all. The cosmic dust appears to stretch
upward like ethereal arms. And the entire structure is surrounded by a
reddish glow from the most abundant element in the universe: hydrogen.
The featured image is composed of nearly 25 hours of exposure and was
captured last year from Starfront Observatory, in Texas, USA

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 9

A Beautiful Trifid
Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandro Cipolat Bares

Explanation: The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in
contrasts. Also known as M20, it lies about 5,000 light-years away
toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region
in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different
types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light
from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust
reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear
in silhouette. But, the red emission region roughly separated into
three parts by obscuring dust lanes is what lends the Trifid its
popular name. Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, above and
right of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space
Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40
light-years across. Too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, in this
deep telescopic view it almost covers the area of a full moon on planet
Earth's sky.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 10

Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
Image Credit & Copyright: Cristiano Gualco

Explanation: Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) 1251. About
1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way
galaxy, LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as "The Rotten Fish
Nebula." The dusty molecular cloud is part of a complex of dark nebulae
mapped toward the Cepheus flare region. Across the spectrum,
astronomical explorations of the obscuring interstellar clouds reveal
energetic shocks and outflows associated with newborn stars, including
the telltale reddish glow from scattered Herbig-Haro objects hiding in
the image. Distant background galaxies also lurk in the scene, almost
buried behind the dusty expanse. This alluring telescopic frame spans
almost three full moons on the sky. That corresponds to over 25
light-years at the estimated distance of LDN 1251.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 11

The Veins of Heaven
Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hed+¬n (Clear Skies, TWAN)

Explanation: Transfusing sunlight as the sky grew darker, this
exceptional display of noctilucent clouds was captured on July 10,
reflected in the calm waters of Vallentuna Lake near Stockholm, Sweden.
From the edge of space, about 80 kilometers above Earth's surface, the
icy clouds themselves still reflect sunlight, even though the Sun is
below the horizon as seen from the ground. Usually spotted at high
latitudes in summer months, the night shining clouds have made a strong
showing so far during the short northern summer nights. Also known as
polar mesopheric clouds they are understood to form as water vapor
driven into the cold upper atmosphere condenses on the fine dust
particles supplied by disintegrating meteors or volcanic ash.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 12

Clouds and the Golden Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Alexsandro Mota

Explanation: As the Sun set, a bright Full Moon rose on July 10. Its
golden light illuminates clouds drifting through southern hemisphere
skies in this well-composed telephoto image from Concei+º+úo do Coit+¬,
Bahia, Brazil. The brightest lunar phase is captured here with both a
short and long exposure. The two exposures were combined to reveal
details of the lunar surface in bright moonlight and a subtle
iridescence along the dramatically backlit cloudscape. Of course,
July's Full Moon is a winter moon in the southern hemisphere. But in
the north it's known to some as the Thunder Moon, likely a nod to the
sounds of this northern summer month's typically stormy weather.

Tomorrow's picture: ants in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 13
A dark starfield appears around an unusually shaped nebula. The nebula
has two main lobes on the left and the right and may seem to resemble
an ant. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, R. Sahai (JPL) et al., Hubble Heritage Team

Explanation: Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is
being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why
then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula
that is distinctly not round? Clues might include the high
1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year
long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star featured
here at the nebula's center. One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding
a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A
competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and
magnetic field are channeling the gas. Since the central star appears
to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased
understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful
insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: twisted galaxy
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 14
An unusual galaxy is shown that appears lens-like in overall shape yet
has various rings of stars around the center. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 2685: The Helix Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Stefan Thrun

Explanation: What is going on with this galaxy? NGC 2685 is a confirmed
polar ring galaxy - a rare type of galaxy with stars, gas and dust
orbiting in rings perpendicular to the plane of a flat galactic disk.
The bizarre configuration could be caused by the chance capture of
material from another galaxy by a disk galaxy, with the captured debris
strung out in a rotating ring. Still, observed properties of NGC 2685
suggest that the rotating helix structure is remarkably old and stable.
In this sharp view of the peculiar system also known as Arp 336 or the
Helix galaxy, the strange, perpendicular rings are easy to trace as
they pass in front of the galactic disk, along with other disturbed
outer structures. NGC 2685 is about 50,000 light-years across and 40
million light-years away in the constellation of the Great Bear (Ursa
Major).

Piece it All Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: collapse on Mars
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 15
A view of the surface of Mars shows an unusual feature -- a seemingly
square crater bounded on three sides. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

Collapse in Hebes Chasma on Mars
Image Credit & License: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)

Explanation: What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars? Hebes Chasma is a
depression just north of the enormous Valles Marineris canyon. Since
the depression is unconnected to other surface features, it is unclear
where the internal material went. Inside Hebes Chasma is Hebes Mensa, a
5 kilometer high mesa that appears to have undergone an unusual partial
collapse -- a collapse that might be providing clues. The featured
image, taken by ESA's robotic Mars Express spacecraft currently
orbiting Mars, shows great details of the chasm and the unusual
horseshoe shaped indentation in the central mesa. Material from the
mesa appears to have flowed onto the floor of the chasm, while a
possible dark layer appears to have pooled like ink on a downslope
landing. One hypothesis holds that salty rock composes some lower
layers in Hebes Chasma, with the salt dissolving in melted ice flows
that drained through holes into an underground aquifer.

Tomorrow's picture: unicorn space rose
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 16
A deep image of the Rosette Nebula is shown along with a field of
stars. As many color filters were used, the flowery nebula takes on
many colors with blue in the center, yellow and orange around the blue,
and red around the outside. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

The Rosette Nebula from DECam
Image Credit: CTIO, NOIRLab, DOE, NSF, AURA; Processing: T. A. Rector
(U. Alaska Anchorage), D. de Martin (NSFCÇÖs NOIRLab) & M. Zamani

Explanation: Would the Rosette Nebula by any other name look as sweet?
The bland New General Catalog designation of NGC 2237 doesn't appear to
diminish the appearance of this flowery emission nebula, as captured by
the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the
NSF's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Inside the
nebula lies an open cluster of bright young stars designated NGC 2244.
These stars formed about four million years ago from the nebular
material and their stellar winds are clearing a hole in the nebula's
center, insulated by a layer of dust and hot gas. Ultraviolet light
from the hot cluster stars causes the surrounding nebula to glow. The
Rosette Nebula spans about 100 light-years across, lies about 5000
light-years away, and can be seen with a small telescope towards the
constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

Open Science: Browse 3,700+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
Library
Tomorrow's picture: 3I
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 17

3I/ATLAS
Image Credit: Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/K. Meech (IfA/U.
Hawaii)
Processing: Jen Miller, Mahdi Zamani (NSF/NOIRLab)

Explanation: Discovered on July 1 with the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid
Terrestrial-impact Last Alert, System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado,
Chile, 3I/ATLAS is so designated as the third known interstellar object
to pass through our Solar System It follows 1I/+.Oumuamua in 2017 and
the comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Also known as C/2025 N1, 3I/ATLAS is
clearly a comet, its diffuse cometary coma, a cloud of gas and dust
surrounding an icy nucleus, is easily seen in these images from the
large Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, HawaiCÇÿi. The left panel
tracks the comet as it moves across the sky against fixed background
stars in successive exposures. Three different filters were used, shown
in red, green, and blue. In the right panel the multiple exposures are
registered and combined to form a single image of the comet. The
comet's interstellar origin is also clear from its orbit, determined to
be an eccentric, highly hyperbolic orbit that does not loop back around
the Sun and will return 3I/ATLAS to interstellar space. Not a threat to
planet Earth, the inbound interstellar interloper is now within the
Jupiter's orbital distance of the Sun, while its closest approach to
the Sun will bring it just within the orbital distance of Mars.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 20

Lunar Nearside
Image Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter

Explanation: About 1,300 images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
spacecraft's wide angle camera were used to compose this spectacular
view of a familiar face - the lunar nearside. But why is there a lunar
nearside? The Moon rotates on its axis and orbits the Earth at the same
rate, about once every 28 days. Tidally locked in this configuration,
the synchronous rotation always keeps one side, the nearside, facing
Earth. As a result, featured in remarkable detail in the full
resolution mosaic, the smooth, dark, lunar maria (actually lava-flooded
impact basins), and rugged highlands, are well-known to earthbound
skygazers. To find your favorite mare or large crater, just follow this
link or slide your cursor over the picture. The LRO images used to
construct the mosaic were recorded over a two week period in December
2010.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 18

ISS Meets Saturn
Image Credit & Copyright: A.J. Smadi

Explanation: This month, bright planet Saturn rises in evening skies,
its rings oriented nearly edge-on when viewed from planet Earth. And in
the early morning hours on July 6, it posed very briefly with the
International Space Station when viewed from a location in Federal Way,
Washington, USA. This well-planned image, a stack of video frames,
captures their momentary conjunction in the same telescopic field of
view. With the ISS in low Earth orbit, space station and gas giant
planet were separated by almost 1.4 billion kilometers. Their apparent
sizes are comparable but the ISS was much brighter than Saturn and the
ringed planet's brightness has been increased for visibility in the
stacked image. Precise timing and an exact location were needed to
capture the ISS/Saturn conjunction.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 19

Messier 6
Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li

Explanation: The sixth object in Charles Messier's famous catalog of
things which are not comets, Messier 6 is a galactic or open star
cluster. A gathering of 100 stars or so, all around 100 million years
young, M6 lies some 1,600 light-years away toward the central Milky Way
in the constellation Scorpius. Also cataloged as NGC 6405, the pretty
star cluster's outline suggests its popular moniker, the Butterfly
Cluster. Surrounded by diffuse reddish emission from the region's
hydrogen gas the cluster's mostly hot and therefore blue stars are near
the center of this colorful cosmic snapshot. But the brightest cluster
member is a cool K-type giant star. Designated BM Scorpii it shines
with a yellow-orange hue, seen near the end of one of the butterfly's
antennae. This telescopic field of view spans nearly 2 Full Moons on
the sky. That's 25 light-years at the estimated distance of Messier 6.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 21
In a starfield a nebula appears that has three main bright regions
surrounding a dark central nebula. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Cat's Paw Nebula from Webb Space Telescope
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Explanation: Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with
familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble. Still, no
known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible toward
the constellation of the Scorpion (Scorpius). At 5,700 light years
distant, Cat's Paw is an emission nebula within a larger molecular
cloud. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula and cataloged as NGC
6334, stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun have been born there
in only the past few million years. Pictured here is a recently
released image of the Cat's Paw taken in infrared light by the James
Webb Space Telescope. This newly detailed view into the nebula helps
provide insight for how turbulent molecular clouds turn gas into stars.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: double supernova
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 22
A nearly circular nebula with two rings is shown. The outer ring
appears orange while while the inner rings is more complex and appears
blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Double Detonation Supernova
Image Credit: ESO, P. Das et al.; Background stars (NASA/Hubble): K.
Noll et al.

Explanation: Can some supernovas explode twice? Yes, when the first
explosion acts like a detonator for the second. This is a leading
hypothesis for the cause of supernova remnant (SNR) 0509-67.5. In this
two-star system, gravity causes the larger and fluffier star to give up
mass to a smaller and denser white dwarf companion. Eventually the
white dwarf's near-surface temperature goes so high that it explodes,
creating a shock wave that goes both out and in -- and so triggers a
full Type Ia supernova near the center. Recent images of the SNR
0509-67.5 system, like the featured image from the Very Large Telescope
in Chile, show two shells with radii and compositions consistent with
the double detonation hypothesis. This system, SNR 0509-67.5 is also
famous for two standing mysteries: why its bright supernova wasn't
noted 400 years ago, and why no visible companion star remains.

Tomorrow's picture: rock being vaporized
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 23
A bright streak is pictured through a starry sky over a beach spotted
with the husks of dead trees. The rollover shows the resulting smoke
trail from the bright meteor. Moving the cursor over the image will
bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the
highest resolution version available. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

Fireball over Cape San Blas
Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Rice

Explanation: Have you ever seen a fireball? In astronomy, a fireball is
a very bright meteor -- one at least as bright as Venus and possibly
brighter than even a full Moon. Fireballs are rare -- if you see one
you are likely to remember it for your whole life. Physically, a
fireball is a small rock that originated from an asteroid or comet that
typically leaves a fading smoke trail of gas and dust as it shoots
through the Earth's atmosphere. It is unlikely that any single large
ground strike occurred -- much of the rock likely vaporized as it broke
up into many small pieces. The featured picture was captured last week
from a deadwood beach in Cape San Blas, Florida, USA.

Piece it Back Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 24

Titan Shadow Transit
Image Credit & Copyright: Volodymyr Andrienko

Explanation: Every 15 years or so, Saturn's rings are tilted edge-on to
our line of sight. As the bright, beautiful ring system grows narrower
and fainter it becomes increasingly difficult to see for denizens of
planet Earth. But it does provide the opportunity to watch transits of
Saturn's moons and their dark shadows across the ringed gas giant's
still bright disk. Of course Saturn's largest moon Titan is the easiest
to spot in transit. In this telescopic snapshot from July 18, Titan
itself is at the upper left, casting a round dark shadow on Saturn's
banded cloudtops above the narrow rings. In fact Titan's transit season
is in full swing now with shadow transits every 16 days corresponding
to the moon's orbital period. Its final shadow transit will be on
October 6, though Titan's pale disk will continue to cross in front of
Saturn as seen from telescopes on planet Earth every 16 days through
January 25, 2026.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 25

Twelve Years of Kappa Cygnids
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Hor+ílek, Josef Kujal, Tom+í+í Slovinsk+';
Acknowledgement: Mahdi Zamani

Explanation: Meteors from the Kappa Cygnid meteor shower are captured
in this time-lapse composite skyscape. The minor meteor shower, with a
radiant not far from its eponymous star Kappa Cygni, peaks in
mid-August, almost at the same time as the much better-known and
better-observed Perseid meteor shower. But, seen to have a peak rate of
only about 3 meteors per hour, Kappa Cygnids are vastly outnumbered by
the more popular, prolific Perseid shower's meteors that emanate from
the heroic constellation Perseus. To capture dozens of Kappa Cygnids,
this long term astro-imaging project compiled meteors in exposures
selected from over 51 August nights during the years 2012 through 2024.
Most of the exposures with identified Kappa Cygnid meteors were made in
August 2021, a high point of the shower's known 7-year activity cycle.
All twelve years worth of Kappa Cygnids are registered against a base
sea and night skyscape of the Milky Way above Elafonisi Beach, Crete,
Greece, also recorded in August of 2021.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 July 26

Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
Image Credit & Copyright: Data acquisition - SkyFlux Team, Processing -
Leo Shatz

Explanation: Globular star cluster Omega Centauri packs about 10
million stars much older than the Sun into a volume some 150
light-years in diameter. Also known as NGC 5139, at a distance of
15,000 light-years it's the largest and brightest of 200 or so known
globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though
most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition,
the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar
populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact,
Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the
Milky Way. With a yellowish hue, Omega Centauri's red giant stars are
easy to pick out in this sharp telescopic view. A two-decade-long
exploration of the dense star cluster with the Hubble Space Telescope
has revealed evidence for a massive black hole near the center of Omega
Centauri.

Tomorrow's picture: awesome
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 27
A volcano is shown with its peak in the midst of purple clouds.
Lightning appears to come out of the top of the volcano in multiple
paths into the upper sky. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Lightning over the Volcano of Water
Image Credit: Sergio Mont+|far (Pinceladas Nocturnas)

Explanation: Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe? You're not
alone. Details of what causes lightning are still being researched, but
it is known that inside some clouds, internal updrafts cause collisions
between ice and snow that slowly separate charges between cloud tops
and bottoms. The rapid electrical discharges that are lightning soon
result. Lightning usually takes a jagged course, rapidly heating a thin
column of air to about three times the surface temperature of the Sun.
The resulting shock wave starts supersonically and decays into the loud
sound known as thunder. On average, around the world, about 6,000
lightning bolts occur between clouds and the Earth every minute.
Pictured in July 2019 in a two-image composite, lightning stems from
communication antennas near the top of Volc+ín de Agua (Volcano of
Water) in Guatemala.

Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post
1995)
Tomorrow's picture: asteroid explosion
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 29
A nearly circular nebula with a blue core surrounded by small white
knots, an orange ring and expansive red strucures. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

A Helix Nebula Deep Field
Image Credit & Copyright: George Chatzifrantzis

Explanation: Is the Helix Nebula looking at you? No, not in any
biological sense, but it does look quite like an eye. The Helix Nebula
is so named because it also appears that you are looking down the axis
of a helix. In actuality, it is now understood to have a surprisingly
complex geometry, including radial filaments and extended outer loops.
The Helix Nebula (aka NGC 7293) is one of brightest and closest
examples of a planetary nebula, a gas cloud created at the end of the
life of a Sun-like star. The remnant central stellar core, destined to
become a white dwarf star, glows in light so energetic it causes the
previously expelled gas to fluoresce. The featured picture, taken in
red, green, and blue but highlighted by light emitted primarily by
hydrogen was created from 12 hours of exposure through a personal
telescope located in Greece. A close-up of the inner edge of the Helix
Nebula shows complex gas knots the origin of which are still being
researched.

Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: loopy Sun
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 30
Four images of the Sun's edge are shown. In each a loop of bright
material is captured above the Sun's surface. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Coronal Loops on the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Andrea Vanoni

Explanation: Our Sun frequently erupts in loops. Hot solar plasma jumps
off the Sun's surface into prominences, with the most common type of
prominence being a simple loop. The loop shape originates from the
Sun's magnetic field, which is traced by spiraling electrons and
protons. Many loops into the Sun's lower corona are large enough to
envelop the Earth and are stable enough to last days. They commonly
occur near active regions that also include dark sunspots. The featured
panel shows four loops, each of which was captured near the Sun's edge
during 2024 and 2025. The images were taken by a personal telescope in
Mantova, Italy and in a very specific color of light emitted primarily
by hydrogen. Some solar prominences suddenly break open and eject
particles into the Solar System, setting up a space weather sequence
that can affect the skies and wires of Earth.

Jigsaw Universe: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 July 31

Supernova 2025rbs in NGC 7331
Image Credit: Ben Godson (University of Warwick)

Explanation: A long time ago in a galaxy 50 million light-years away, a
star exploded. Light from that supernova was first detected by
telescopes on planet Earth on July 14th though, and the extragalactic
transient is now known to astronomers as supernova 2025rbs. Presently
the brightest supernova in planet Earth's sky, 2025rbs is a Type Ia
supernova, likely caused by the thermonuclear detonation of a white
dwarf star that accreted material from a companion in a binary star
system. Type Ia supernovae are used as standard candles to establish
the distance scale of the universe. The host galaxy of 2025rbs is NGC
7331. Itself a bright spiral galaxy in the northern constellation
Pegasus, NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 1

Small Dark Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Bresseler

Explanation: A small, dark, nebula looks isolated near the center of
this telescopic close-up. The wedge-shaped cosmic cloudlet lies within
a relatively crowded region of space though. About 7,000 light-years
distant and filled with glowing gas and an embedded cluster of young
stars, the region is known as M16 or the Eagle Nebula. Hubble's iconic
images of the Eagle Nebula include the famous star-forming Pillars of
Creation, towering structures of interstellar gas and dust 4 to 5
light-years long. But this small dark nebula, known to some as a Bok
globule, is a fraction of a light-year across. The Bok globule stands
out in silhouette against the expansive background of M16's diffuse
glow. Found scattered within emission nebulae and star clusters, Bok
globules are small interstellar clouds of cold molecular gas and
obscuring dust that also form stars within their dense, collapsing
cores.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 2

Fireflies, Meteors, and Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Korona

Explanation: Taken on July 29 and July 30, a registered and stacked
series of exposures creates this dreamlike view of a northern summer
night. Multiple firefly flashes streak across the foreground as the
luminous Milky Way arcs above the horizon in the Sierra de +ôrganos
national park of central Mexico, The collection of bright streaks
aligned across the sky toward the upper left in the timelapse image are
Delta Aquariid meteors
. Currently active, the annual Delta Aquarid meteor shower shares
August nights though, overlapping with the better-known Perseid meteor
shower. This year that makes post-midnight, mostly moonless skies in
early August very popular with late night skygazers. How can you tell a
Delta Aquariid from a Perseid meteor? The streaks of Perseid meteors
can be traced back to an apparent radiant in the constellation Perseus.
Delta Aquariids appear to emerge from the more southerly constellation
Aquarius, beyond the top left of this frame. Of course, the
bioluminescent flashes of fireflies are common too on these northern
summer nights. But how can you tell a firefly from a meteor? Just try
to catch one.

Tomorrow's picture: or ...
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 3
A starscape is shown with the central band of the Milky Way Galaxy
running down the center. Just to the left of the Milky Way is a bright
meteor. In the three frame time-lapse image, the meteor explodes and
gas and dust drift away. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Milky Way and Exploding Meteor
Image Credit & Copyright: Andre van der Hoeven

Explanation: In about a week the Perseid Meteor Shower will reach its
maximum. Grains of icy rock will streak across the sky as they
evaporate during entry into Earth's atmosphere. These grains were shed
from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The Perseids result from the annual crossing
of the Earth through Comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit, and are typically the
most active meteor shower of the year. Although it is hard to predict
the level of activity in any meteor shower, in a clear dark sky an
observer might see a meteor a minute. This year's Perseids peak just a
few days after full moon, and so some faint meteors will be lost to the
lunar skyglow. Meteor showers in general are best seen from a relaxing
position, away from lights. Featured here is a meteor caught exploding
during the 2015 Perseids above Austria next to the central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy.

Tomorrow's picture: arcs unknown
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 4
The Andromeda Galaxy is shown just right of center, while some unusual
blue arcs appear to its left. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Blue Arcs Toward Andromeda
Image Credit & Copyright: Ogle et al.

Explanation: What are these gigantic blue arcs near the Andromeda
Galaxy (M31)? Discovered in 2022 by amateur astronomers, the faint arcs
-- dubbed SDSO 1 -- span nearly the same angular size as M31 itself. At
first, their origin was a mystery: are they actually near the Andromeda
Galaxy, or alternatively near to our Sun? Now, over 550 hours of
combined exposure and a collaboration between amateur and professional
astronomers has revealed strong evidence for their true nature: SDSO 1
is not intergalactic, but a new class of planetary nebula within our
galaxy. Dubbed a Ghost Planetary Nebula (GPN), SDSO 1 is the first
recognized member of a new subclass of faded planetary nebulas, along
with seven others also recently identified. Shown in blue are extremely
faint oxygen emission from the shock waves, while the surrounding red
is a hydrogen-emitting trail that indicates the GPN's age.

Tomorrow's picture: complex stellar jumble
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 August 5
A starfield is shown dominated by a complex nebula shown with many red
filaments and with a light glow in a region near the center. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 6072: A Complex Planetary Nebula from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST

Explanation: Why is this nebula so complex? The Webb Space Telescope
has imaged a nebula in great detail that is thought to have emerged
from a Sun-like star. NGC 6072 has been resolved into one of the more
unusual and complex examples of planetary nebula. The featured image is
in infrared light with the red color highlighting cool hydrogen gas.
Study of previous images of NGC 6072 indicated several likely outflows
and two disks inside the jumbled gas, while the new Webb image resolves
new features likely including one disk's edge protruding on the central
left. A leading origin hypothesis holds that the nebula's complexity is
caused or enhanced by multiple outbursts from a star in a multi-star
system near the center.

Tomorrow's picture: meteor galaxy
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 6
A starfield has the Andromeda galaxy in the center. Streaking down from
the top is a green line with several bright segments -- a meteor
captured coincidently. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Meteor before Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich

Explanation: What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy?
A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the
peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space
crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy's far-distant companion.
The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this
10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking
violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere. The green color was
created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized.
Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the
orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from
the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks
earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks next week,
although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened
by a nearly full moon.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 August 7

The Double Cluster in Perseus
Image Credit & Copyright: Ron Brecher

Explanation: This stunning starfield spans about three full moons (1.5
degrees) across the heroic northern constellation of Perseus. It holds
the famous pair of open star clusters, h and Chi Persei. Also cataloged
as NGC 869 (right) and NGC 884, both clusters are about 7,000
light-years away and contain stars much younger and hotter than the
Sun. Separated by only a few hundred light-years, the clusters are both
13 million years young based on the ages of their individual stars,
evidence that both clusters were likely a product of the same
star-forming region. Always a rewarding sight in binoculars or small
telescopes, the Double Cluster is even visible to the unaided eye from
dark locations.

Tomorrow's picture: Dawn of the Crab
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 8

Dawn of the Crab
Image and Text Credit: Bradley E. Schaefer

Explanation: One of the all-time historic skyscapes occured in July
1054, when the Crab Supernova blazed into the dawn sky. Chinese court
astrologers first saw the Guest Star on the morning of 4 July 1054 next
to the star Tianguan (now cataloged as Zeta Tauri). The supernova
peaked in late July 1054 a bit brighter than Venus, and was visible in
the daytime for 23 days. The Guest Star was so bright that every
culture around the world inevitably discovered the supernova
independently, although only nine reports survive, including those from
China, Japan, and Constantinople. This iPhone picture is from Signal
Hill near Tucson on the morning of 26 July 2025, faithfully re-creates
the year 1054 Dawn of the Crab, showing the sky as seen by Hohokam
peoples. The planet Venus, as a stand-in for the supernova, is close to
the position of what is now the Crab Nebula supernova remnant. Step
outside on a summer dawn with bright Venus, and ask yourself "What
would you have thought in ancient times when suddenly seeing the Dawn
of the Crab?"

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 9

Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS from Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, David Jewitt (UCLA) et al. - Processing;
Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Explanation: Discovered on July 1 with the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid
Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado,
Chile, 3I/ATLAS is so designated as the third known interstellar object
to pass through our Solar System. It follows 1I/+.Oumuamua in 2017 and
the comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Also known as C/2025 N1, 3I/ATLAS is a
comet. A teardrop-shaped cloud of dust, ejected from its icy nucleus
warmed by increasing sunlight, is seen in this sharp image from the
Hubble Space Telescope captured on July 21. Background stars are
streaked in the exposure as Hubble tracked the fastest comet ever
recorded on its journey toward the inner solar system. An analysis of
the Hubble image indicates the solid nucleus, hidden from direct view,
is likely less that 5.6 kilometers in diameter. This comet's
interstellar origin is clear from its orbit, determined to be an
eccentric, highly hyperbolic orbit that does not loop back around the
Sun and will return 3I/ATLAS to interstellar space. Not a threat to
planet Earth, the inbound interstellar interloper is now within the
Jupiter's orbital distance of the Sun, while its closest approach to
the Sun will bring it just inside the orbital distance of Mars.

Tomorrow's picture: down the road
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 August 10
A night sky is shown above a road going off into the distance. An
unusual area of brightened sky that does not block background stars
appears diagonally from the lower right across the sky. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Zodiacal Road
Image Credit & Copyright: Ruslan Merzlyakov (astrorms)

Explanation: What's that strange light down the road? Dust orbiting the
Sun. At certain times of the year, a band of sun-reflecting dust from
the inner Solar System appears prominently just after sunset -- or just
before sunrise -- and is called zodiacal light. Although the origin of
this dust is still being researched, a leading hypothesis holds that
zodiacal dust originates mostly from faint Jupiter-family comets and
slowly spirals into the Sun. Recent analysis of dust emitted by Comet
67P, visited by ESA's robotic Rosetta spacecraft, bolsters this
hypothesis. Pictured when climbing a road up to Teide National Park in
the Canary Islands of Spain, a bright triangle of zodiacal light
appeared in the distance soon after sunset. Captured on June 21, 2019,
the scene includes bright Regulus, the alpha star of the constellation
Leo, standing above center toward the left. The Beehive Star Cluster
(M44) can be spotted below center, closer to the horizon and also
immersed in the zodiacal glow.

Tomorrow's picture: near to the Sun
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 11

Closest Ever Images Near the Sun
Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, Naval Research Lab, Parker Solar Probe

Explanation: Everybody sees the Sun. Nobody's been there. Starting in
2018, though, NASA launched the robotic Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to
investigate regions near to the Sun for the first time. The featured
time-lapse video shows the view looking sideways from behind PSP's Sun
shield in December during the closest approach of any human-made
spacecraft to the Sun, looping down to only about five solar diameters
above the Sun's hot surface. The PSP's Wide Field Imager for Solar
Probe (WISPR) cameras took these images over seven hours, but they are
digitally compressed here into about 5 seconds. The solar corona,
including colliding coronal mass ejections (CMEs), is visible here in
unprecedented detail, with stars passing far in the background. The Sun
is not only Earth's dominant energy source, but its variable solar wind
also compresses Earth's atmosphere, triggers auroras, affects power
grids, and can even damage orbiting communication satellites.

Tomorrow's picture: sky flow
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2025 August 12
A starfield is shown above a grassy field with hills on the horizon.
The band of our Milky Way Galaxy arches across toward the right. Many
streaks appear emanating out from a place on the Milky Way just above
the horizon. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Perseids from Perseus
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadzi+äski

Explanation: Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of
direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of
Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tonight is known as
the Perseids -- the meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward
Perseus. In terms of parent body, though, the sand-sized debris that
makes up the Perseids meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet
follows a well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the orbit
that approaches Earth is superposed in front of Perseus. Therefore,
when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris
appears in Perseus. Featured here, a composite image taken over six
nights and containing over 100 meteors from 2024 August Perseids meteor
shower shows many bright meteors that streaked over the Bieszczady
Mountains in Poland. This year's Perseids, usually one of the best
meteor showers of the year, will compete with a bright moon that will
rise, for many locations, soon after sunset.

Tomorrow's picture: orion's stellar heart
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)