Nostr notes by APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day 03 April 2026 **Caught in the ...

2026-04-03T04:12:39Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

03 April 2026

**Caught in the Web: Visualization of a Black Hole Merger in the Tarantula Nebula**

Image Credit: Carl Knox, OzGrav, Swinburne University of Technology, Blake Estes, Christian Sasse, iTelescope.net, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:

How can we see what is invisible?

Black holes are not easy to see in the dark cosmic night, but astronomers can find them by analyzing their gravitational effects on matter, light and spacetime.

The featured image shows an illustration that combines a simulation of a black hole binary system in its final "death-dance" with an astrophotography image of the Tarantula Nebula in the background.

Even though black holes don't emit light, they distort the path of light rays, acting like a gravitational lens.

As a result, the nebula appears extremely distorted, forming Einstein rings and multiple images.

Tarantula Nebula lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy that is one of the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, 160,000 light-years away.

That is more than 1,000 times closer than any of the binary black hole mergers detected so far.

We'll probably never detect a merger so close to home!

#APOD #BlackHoleMerger #TarantulaNebula #GravitationalWaves #Astrophysics #Cosmology

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260403.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 02 April 2026 **The Claw and ...

2026-04-02T04:16:25Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

02 April 2026

**The Claw and Bubble Nebulae**

Image Credit: Richard Whitehead, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:
What unexpected things do you see when you look up at the night sky? Today’s image resembles an
abstract painting,
with large swaths of color strewn across a cosmic canvas seemingly without design. Despite the image's abstract nature, the
human mind finds patterns,
identifying a large claw reaching up towards a floating bubble. Embedded within these seemingly random structures are the physical laws that govern
how light and matter interact.
The
Claw
(Sh2-157) and
Bubble
(NGC 7635)
Nebulae glow
colors that are mapped
to the yellow and blue shown, indicating the presence of hydrogen and oxygen
ionized by the intense light emitted from stars
several times the mass of the Sun. This image depicts both the chaos and structure of astronomical processes, showing that a common thread between art and science is
to look for the unexpected.

#APOD #Astrophoto #NASAInspires #Space #Astrogeek

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260401.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 01 April 2026 **Uranus's ...

2026-04-01T04:20:22Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

01 April 2026

**Uranus's Largest Moon: Titania**

Image Credit: NASA, Voyager 2, zelario12 | License

Explanation:
Titania's tortured terrain is a mix of canyons, cliffs, and craters.

NASA's interplanetary robot spacecraft
Voyager 2 passed the largest moon of
Uranus in 1986 and took the
feature picture.

That the
trenches of Titania
resemble those on another moon of Uranus,
Ariel,
indicate that Titania underwent some violent surface
event possibly related to water
freezing and expanding in its distant past.

Although Titania is Uranus's largest moon,
it is only about half the radius of
Triton -
the largest moon of Uranus's sister planet
Neptune,
which itself is
slightly smaller than
Earth's Moon.

Titania,
discovered by
William Herschel
in 1787, is essentially a large dirty iceball
that is composed of about half water-ice and half rock.

There is recent
speculation that
radioactive heating
melts some underground ice into oceans.

#APOD #Titania #Uranus #Moon #Voyager2 #NASA

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260331.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 31 March 2026 **Peculiar ...

2026-03-31T04:23:57Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

31 March 2026

**Peculiar Elliptical Galaxy Centaurus A**

Image Credit: SADR Observatory, J-C Dalouzy

Explanation:
What's happened to the center of this galaxy?

Dramatic dust lanes run across the center of unusual elliptical galaxy
Centaurus A.

These dust lanes are so thick they almost completely obscure the
galaxy's center in
visible light.

This is particularly unusual as
Cen A's
older stars and oval shape are characteristic of a giant
elliptical galaxy, a galaxy type typically low in dark dust.

Pictured in
this deep image
is a complex network of foreground gas and dust, as well as
shells of dim stars and a
jet projecting to the upper right.

Also known as NGC 5128,
Cen A is surely the result of a
galactic collision where many young dust-creating stars were formed.

However, details of the creation of Cen A's unusually
active center and iconic central dust lanes are still
being researched.

Cen A lies only 13 million
light years away, making it the
closest active galaxy.

#APOD #CentaurusA #CenA #EllipticalGalaxy #ActiveGalacticNucleus #AGN

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260330.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 30 March 2026 **A Message from ...

2026-03-30T04:06:46Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

30 March 2026

**A Message from Earth**

Image Credit: Frank Drake, Arecibo Observatory, Arne Nordmann | License

Explanation:
What are these Earthlings trying to tell us?

The featured message was broadcast from
Earth
towards the globular star cluster
M13 in 1974.

During the dedication of an upgrade to the
Arecibo
Observatory -
then the largest single radio telescope in the world -
a string of 1's and 0's representing the diagram was sent.

This attempt at
extraterrestrial communication
was mostly ceremonial - humanity regularly
broadcasts radio and television signals out into space accidentally.

Even were
this message
received, M13 is so far away we would
have to wait almost 50,000 years to hear an answer.

The featured message gives a few simple facts about humanity and its knowledge:
from left to right are numbers from one to ten, atoms including
hydrogen and
carbon,
some interesting molecules,
DNA, a human with description, basics of our
Solar System,
and basics of the sending telescope.

Several
searches for extraterrestrial intelligence are currently underway.

#APOD #Earth #RedPlanet #InterstellarMessage #SETI #Extraterrestrial

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260329.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 29 March 2026 **Robert Goddard ...

2026-03-29T04:10:42Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

29 March 2026

**Robert Goddard and Nell**

Image Credit: Clark University archive

Explanation:

Robert H. Goddard,
considered the father of modern rocketry, was born in
Worcester Massachusetts in 1882.

As a 16 year old, Goddard read H.G. Wells' science fiction classic
"War Of The Worlds"
and dreamed of space flight.

By 1926
he had designed, built, and flown the world's first liquid fuel rocket.

Launched 100 years ago
on March 16, 1926 from his aunt Effie's
farm in Auburn Massachusetts,
the rocket, dubbed "Nell," rose to an
altitude of 41 feet in a flight that lasted about 2 1/2 seconds.

In
this posed photo,
Goddard stands next to the 10 foot tall rocket, holding
the launch stand frame.

To achieve a stable flight without the need for fins, the rocket's heavy
motor was located at the top, fed by lines from
liquid oxygen and gasoline fuel tanks at the bottom.

Widely recognized as a
gifted experimenter
and
engineering genius,
his
rockets were many years ahead
of their time.

Goddard was awarded over 200 patents in rocket technology,
most of them after his death in 1945.

A liquid fuel rocket constructed on principles
developed by Goddard landed humans on
the Moon in 1969.

#APOD #Cosmos #Astrophoto #Universe Astrophotography

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260328.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 28 March 2026 **Hickson 44 in ...

2026-03-28T04:19:42Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

28 March 2026

**Hickson 44 in Leo**

Image Credit: Peter Kennett

Explanation:

Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer
Paul Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact
groups of galaxies,
now appropriately called
Hickson Compact Groups.

The four prominent galaxies seen in this intriguing
telescopic skyscape
are one such group, Hickson 44.

The Hickson 44 galaxy group is about 100 million light-years distant,
far beyond the foreground Milky Way stars,
toward the northern springtime constellation Leo.

The two spiral galaxies
in the center of the image are edge-on NGC 3190 with distinctive,
warped dust lanes, and S-shaped NGC 3187.

Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 (left)
they are also known as Arp 316.

The spiral toward the lower right corner is NGC 3185,
the 4th member of the Hickson group.

Like other galaxies in
Hickson groups,
these show signs of distortion and
enhanced star formation,
evidence of a gravitational tug of war that will eventually result in
galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale.

The merger process is
now understood to be a normal part of the evolution of
galaxies, including our own Milky Way.

For scale, NGC 3190
is about 75,000 light-years across at the estimated
distance of Hickson 44.

#APOD #Hickson44 #CompactGroups #Leo #NGC3190 #NGC3187

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260327.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 27 March 2026 **Black Holes and ...

2026-03-27T04:23:42Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

27 March 2026

**Black Holes and Neutron Stars: 218 Mergers and Counting**

Image Credit: Ryan Nowicki, Bill Smith, Karan Jani, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:
What is the sound of two black holes merging in deep space?

Sound waves don't propagate in vacuum, but gravitational waves do.

In 2015 we were able to "hear" them for the first time and confirm one of Albert Einstein's theoretical predictions.

Each square on the grid of the featured image represents one of the gravitational wave detections announced so far by the LIGO-VIRGO-KAGRA Collaboration.

These plots show how the binary pair accelerates in their orbit around each other towards merger: the rising frequency effect is called a "chirp".

Although there are significantly more neutron stars than black holes, most of the detections are binary black hole mergers.

That happens because black holes are heavier and their signals are louder and can be seen farther away, resulting in more detections.

These events are rare, and we don't expect to see one close by in our Galaxy any time soon.

But they are happening continuously throughout the cosmos.

#APOD #BlackHoles #NeutronStars #GravitationalWaves #Astrophysics #Universe

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260326.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 26 March 2026 **The Guardians of ...

2026-03-26T04:06:15Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

26 March 2026

**The Guardians of Rapa Nui beneath the Milky Way**

Image Credit: Rositsa Dimitrova, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:
In the words of today's astrophotographer, Rositsa Dimitrova, "What have these silent sentinels watched
pass across the sky?" The volcanic
mo'ai
(meaning statue) of
Ahu Tongariki
stand guard over
Rapa Nui
(Isla de Pascua, Easter Island),
a Polynesian island
(annexed by Chile in 1888) located thousands of kilometers off the coast of South America in the Pacific Ocean. Due to the island's remoteness,
the mo'ai,
with their backs to the dark ocean, are able to gaze upon a clear and vibrant night sky.
Pictured,
these
larger-than-life statues
stare at the bright band of
the Milky Way,
partly obscured by
interstellar dust
and blurred by Earth's clouds. Under such clear night skies, the Rapa Nui created observatories and used astronomical observations for
navigation, calendar calibration, celebrations, and more.
Images like this one remind us of
the importance of dark skies,
protecting the land underneath them, and
preserving the culture
that they inspire.

#APOD #RapaNui #MilkyWay #Astrophotography #Astronomy #Space

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260325.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 24 March 2026 **Light Pillars ...

2026-03-24T04:14:10Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

24 March 2026

**Light Pillars and Orion over Mohe**

Image Credit: Jeff Dai, TWAN

Explanation:
What's happening at the end of that street?

Pictured here are not
auroras but
light pillars, a phenomenon typically much closer.

In most places on
Earth, a lucky viewer can see a
Sun pillar,
a column of light appearing to extend up from the
Sun
caused by flat fluttering
ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the
upper atmosphere.

Usually, these ice
crystals
evaporate before reaching the ground.

During freezing temperatures, however,
flat
fluttering
ice crystals may form near the ground and are sometimes known as a
crystal fog.

These small ice crystals may then reflect not the Sun but
ground lights.

The featured image captured not only
numerous light pillars but also the iconic
constellation of Orion, and was taken in
Mohe, the northernmost city in
China.

#APOD lookUp #NASA Astrophotography #Astrophoto

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260323.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 22 March 2026 **Galaxies in the ...

2026-03-22T04:22:14Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

22 March 2026

**Galaxies in the River: NGC 1300 and NGC 1297**

Image Credit: Dietmar Hager and Eric Benson

Explanation:

Spiral NGC 1300 and elliptical NGC 1297 are galaxies that
lie on the banks of the southern constellation
Eridanus (The River).

At 70 million light-years distant or more,
both are members of the
Eridanus Galaxy Cluster.

About 100,000 light-years across, at lower left in this sharp,
galaxy group photo
NGC 1300 is seen face-on
with a prominent central bar and grand, sweeping spiral arms.

Like other
spiral galaxies,
including our own barred spiral Milky Way Galaxy, NGC 1300 is
thought to have a supermassive central black hole.

A contrast in appearance and slightly more distant, NGC 1297 is
the roughly spherical large
elliptical galaxy near the top of the frame.

With little active star formation,
elliptical galaxies
are composed of older populations of stars and are likely
he result of multiple
collisions and mergers with spirals.

#APOD #Astronomy #Astrogeek Astrophotography #Cosmos

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260321.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 20 March 2026 **Spring Equinox ...

2026-03-20T04:08:33Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

20 March 2026

**Spring Equinox at Teide Observatory**

Image Credit: Juan Carlos Casado, Starry Earth, TWAN

Explanation:

The defining astronomical moment
of the equinox today is at 14:46 UTC (March 20).

That's when the Sun
crosses the celestial equator moving north
in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky, marking
the beginning of spring for our fair planet in the northern
hemisphere and fall in the southern hemisphere.

Then, day and night are nearly equal
around the globe.

In fact, both day and nighttime exposures from a spring equinox at the
Observatorio del Teide
in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, are used in this composited skyscape.

Over 1,000 images were taken with a fisheye lens and merged
in the ambitious equinox project.

The apparent motion of the Sun setting along the celestial equator on
the equinox date follows the bright linear, diagonal track from
the sequence of daytime exposures taken over 6 hours.

After sunset, nighttime exposures recorded startrails,
with the
celestial equator as a linear track and concentric
arcs circling the north celestial pole near Polaris at upper
right and the south celestial pole beyond the lower left edge
(and below the Teide horizon).

The foreground includes the distant
Teide volcano peak
and the
observatory's pyramid-shaped solar laboratory building.

#APOD #SpringEquinox #TeideObservatory #ObservatorioDelTeide #CelestialEquator #Equinox2024

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260320.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 19 March 2026 **Cygnus and the ...

2026-03-19T04:12:04Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

19 March 2026

**Cygnus and the Solitary Tree**

Image Credit: AstroHoracio, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:

A lone tree stands in a quiet meadow in
Guadalajara, Spain,
silhouetted against
the Cygnus region
rising above like flames in the night sky.

This deep night skyscape is a composite of exposures that reveals a range of brightness and color human eyes can't quite see on their own.

Spanning over a thousand times the
angular size
of the full moon,
Cygnus
sets the sky afire with
active star formation
where clouds of gas and dust collapse under gravity until
nuclear fusion
ignites and new stars are born.

These stars
ionize
the surrounding hydrogen gas, causing it to
glow crimson,
while tendrils of
interstellar dust
absorb some of that light and cast dark shadows across the sky.

Cygnus is a trove of celestial treasures, notably the
Veil,
Crescent, and
Pelican nebulae,
as well as
Cygnus X-1,
the first confirmed
black hole.

Cygnus continues to yield fresh science, including
a new three-dimensional model
of the
Cygnus Loop
made possible by
the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

#APOD #Cygnus #CygnusRegion #VeilNebula #PelicanNebula #CrescentNebula

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260318.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 18 March 2026 **The Tadpoles of ...

2026-03-18T04:15:50Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

18 March 2026

**The Tadpoles of IC 410**

Image Credit: Nico Carver

Explanation:

This telescopic close-up
shows off the central regions of
otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410,
captured under backyard skies.

Presented
in a Hubble color palette,
the image combines visible broadband and narrowband data
with data from the near-infrared.

Below and right of center
are two remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gas and dust.
the Tadpoles of IC 410.

Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itself surrounds
NGC 1893, a young
galactic cluster of stars.

Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, the
intensely hot, bright
cluster stars energize the glowing gas.

But the cosmic tadpoles themselves are
composed of denser cooler gas and dust.

Around 10 light-years long they are likely sites of ongoing
star formation.

Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their heads are outlined by
bright ridges of ionized gas
while their tails trail away from the cluster's central young stars.

IC 410 lies some 10,000 light-years away,
toward the nebula-rich constellation Auriga.

#APOD #NASA #Astrogeek #NASAInspires #Cosmos

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260317.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 17 March 2026 **NGC 1566: The ...

2026-03-17T04:19:46Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

17 March 2026

**NGC 1566: The Spanish Dancer Galaxy**

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, D. Calzetti, LEGUS, Team, R. Chandar

Explanation:
If not perfect, then this
spiral galaxy
is at least one of the most photogenic.

An island universe containing billions of stars and
situated about 40 million light-years away toward the
constellation of the Dolphinfish
(Dorado),
NGC 1566 presents
a gorgeous face-on view.

Classified as a
grand design spiral,
NGC 1566 shows two prominent and graceful spiral
arms that are traced by bright blue
star clusters,
red emission nebulas,
and dark cosmic dust lanes.

Numerous Hubble Space Telescope images of
NGC 1566
have been taken to study star formation,
supernovas,
and the spiral's
unusually active center.

NGC 1566's flaring center makes the spiral one of the closest and brightest
Seyfert galaxies, likely housing a central
supermassive black hole wreaking havoc on
surrounding stars and gas.

#APOD #NGC1566 #SpanishDancerGalaxy #spiralgalaxy #granddesign #Dorado

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260316.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 16 March 2026 **Equinox at the ...

2026-03-16T04:23:47Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

16 March 2026

**Equinox at the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent**

Image Credit: Robert Fedez

Explanation:
To see the feathered serpent
descend
the Mayan pyramid requires exquisite timing.

You must visit
El Castillo -- in
Mexico's
Yucatán Peninsula -- near an
equinox.

Then, during the late afternoon if the sky is clear,
the pyramid's own
shadows create triangles
that merge into the famous illusion of a
slithering viper.

Also known as the
Temple of Kukulkan, the impressive step-pyramid
stands 30 meters tall and 55 meters wide at the base.

Built up as a series of square terraces by the
pre-Columbian civilization between the 9th and 12th century,
the structure can be used as a calendar and is noted for
astronomical alignments.

The featured composite image was captured in 2019 with
Jupiter and Saturn
straddling the diagonal central band of our Milky Way galaxy.

In a few days another
equinox will occur
-- not only at Temple of Kukulcán, but
all over planet Earth.

#APOD #Equinox #MayanAstronomy #Kukulkan #ElCastillo #AstronomicalAlignment

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260315.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 15 March 2026 **A Year for ...

2026-03-15T04:06:43Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

15 March 2026

**A Year for K2-315b**

Image Credit: Not provided

Explanation:

Want to visit a planet that has 3.14 days in a year?

Then plan a trip to K2-315b, an earth-sized planet orbiting around
a cool, red, M dwarf star about once every 3.14 days.

The exoplanet's discovery,
based on publicly available data
from the planet-hunting
Kepler Space Telescope's
extended K2 mission, was announced in 2020.

K2-315b's measured orbital period in days is nearly equal to the
extremely
popular irrational
number Pi.

That
puts
the exoplanet so close to its parent star that its
surface is likely very warm,
baking-hot in fact.

And this Pi planet is over 185 light-years away.

So instead of trying to arrange for an
interstellar vacation
to K2-315b, there may be easier and more comfortable ways for you to celebrate
Pi day on planet Earth.

#APOD #K2 #exoplanet #exoplanets #planetaryscience #K2mission

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260314.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 14 March 2026 **Toolondo ...

2026-03-14T04:10:51Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

14 March 2026

**Toolondo Totality Trails**

Image Credit: Jason Perry

Explanation:

In this composited night skyscape, stacked exposures trace graceful
star trails above Lake Toolondo, Victoria,
Australia, planet Earth.

Captured while the
lunar eclipse
of March 3 was
in progress,
the exposures used were made during the hour-long
total eclipse phase.

So faint star trails are easily visible along with
the trail of the reddened Moon in the
eclipse-darkened skies
above the lake and trees.

Of course, the apparent motion of Moon and stars revealed in the
timelapse composite
reflect the
Earth's daily rotation
around its axis.

Dramatically punctuating the Moon's trail as totality ended,
a single, separate telephoto image of the totally eclipsed Moon was scaled and
blended into the scene.

#APOD #ToolondoEclipse #LunarEclipse #StarTrails #NightSky #Australia

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260313.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 12 March 2026 **CG 4: The ...

2026-03-12T04:19:21Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

12 March 2026

**CG 4: The Globule and the Galaxy**

Image Credit: William Vrbasso, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:
Is this a cosmic monster ready to devour an unsuspecting galaxy?

Thankfully, that is not the case.

The red “monster” shown in the featured image is Cometary Globule CG 4, 1,300 light-years away in the Constellation Puppis.

CG 4 is a molecular cloud, where hydrogen becomes cold enough to form molecules that can be brought together by gravity to create stars.

The shape of CG 4 resembles that of a comet, but its head is 1.5 light-year in diameter and its tail is 8 light-years long; for comparison, the distance from the Earth to the sun is only 8 light-minutes.

Astronomers believe that the tail of a cometary globule could have been shaped by a nearby supernova explosion or by irradiation from hot, massive stars. Indeed, CG 4 and other nearby globules point away from the Vela Supernova Remnant, at the center of the Gum Nebula.

The edge-on spiral galaxy, ESO 257-19, is more than a hundred million light-years beyond CG 4, and is completely safe from the “monster”.

#APOD #CG4 #Globule #Galaxy #CosmicMonster #InterstellarMedium

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260311.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 11 March 2026 **Sky Glows over ...

2026-03-11T04:23:33Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

11 March 2026

**Sky Glows over Paranal Observatory**

Image Credit: Julien Looten

Explanation:
Are lasers from giant telescopes being used to defend the Earth?

No.

Lasers shot
from telescopes are now commonly used to help increase the accuracy of astronomical observations.

In some directions, Earth atmosphere-induced
fluctuations in starlight can indicate how the
air mass over a
telescope is changing, but in other directions, no bright star exists.

In these directions, astronomers can create an
artificial star with a
laser.

Subsequent observations of the artificial
laser guide star can reveal information so detailed
about the changing blurring effects of the
Earth's atmosphere that much of it
can be removed by rapidly flexing a telescope's mirror.

Such adaptive optics techniques allow high-resolution ground-based observations of
real stars,
planets, and
nebulas.

Pictured here, telescopes at
Paranal
Observatory in
Chile
study a colorful sky filled with green
airglow and the
Magellanic Clouds on the left, red
airglow on the right,
and the majestic central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy
arching across the center.

#APOD #ParanalObservatory #LaserGuideStar #AdaptiveOptics #Telescope #Astronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260310.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 10 March 2026 **The Cranium ...

2026-03-10T04:06:35Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

10 March 2026

**The Cranium Nebula from the Webb Telescope**

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. DePasquale, STScI

Explanation:
What's going on inside the head of this nebula?

Dubbed the Exposed
Cranium Nebula for its similarity to the human brain,
what created the nebula remains a mystery.

One thought is that the Cranium Nebula, also known as PMR 1, is a
planetary nebula surrounding a
white dwarf star.

In this mode, the outer atmosphere was expelled when the original
Sun-like star ran out of
central nuclear fuel and contracted.

A competing thought is that the central star is much more massive,
possibly a
Wolf-Rayet star,
that is ejecting gas and
dust via turbulent
stellar winds.

Adding to the
intrigue is the dark vertical central division
and the thin outer gaseous shell.

The featured image was taken by the
Webb Space Telescope in
mid-
infrared light, while a second image, included as a rollover,
is in near-infrared.

Future observations may reveal if this brainy system
will quietly just fade from view or, many years from now,
suddenly erupt in a powerful
supernova.

#APOD #CraniumNebula #WebbTelescope #jwst #DeepSpace #InterstellarGas

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260309.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 09 March 2026 **The Aurora ...

2026-03-09T04:10:50Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

09 March 2026

**The Aurora Tree**

Image Credit: Alyn Wallace

Explanation:
Yes, but can your tree do this?

Pictured is a visual coincidence between the
dark branches of a nearby tree and bright glow of a distant aurora.

The beauty of the
aurora --
combined with how it seemed to mimic a
tree right nearby --
mesmerized the photographer to such a degree that
he momentarily forgot to take pictures.

When viewed at the
right angle, it seemed that this tree had aurora for leaves.

Fortunately, before the aurora morphed into a
different
overall
shape,
he came to his senses and captured the awe-inspiring
momentary coincidence.

Typically triggered by
solar explosions,
aurora are caused by high energy
electrons
impacting the
Earth's atmosphere around 150 kilometers up.

The unusual Earth-sky collaboration was witnessed in March of 2017 in
Iceland.

#APOD #AuroraTree #Aurora #NorthernLights #SolarStorm #Space

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260308.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 08 March 2026 **Two Eclipses of ...

2026-03-08T05:18:22Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

08 March 2026

**Two Eclipses of Saros 133**

Image Credit: Tunc Tezel, TWAN, Petr Horalek, Institute of Physics in Opava, NOIRLab

Explanation:

Centered on maximum eclipse,
these two total lunar eclipse sequences look almost identical.

Yet the one shown on top is composed of images recorded in
February 2008, while at the bottom is the recent
March 2026 total eclipse
of the Moon.

Why are they so similar?

Because these two total lunar eclipses are from the same Saros cycle.

The Saros cycle
was discovered
historically
from observations of the Moon's orbit.

With a period of 18 years, 11 and 1/3 days,
the cycle predicts when the Sun, Earth,
and Moon all return to the same relative
geometry for a lunar
(or solar) eclipse.

Eclipses separated by one Saros period belong to
the same numbered Saros series, in this case Saros 133.

So expect the next
lunar eclipse in Saros 133 to be
a repeat of this year's March 3 eclipse.

You can watch the next Saros 133 total lunar eclipse on
March 13, 2044.

#APOD #lunarEclipse #Saros133 #TotalLunarEclipse #MoonEvent #CelestialEvent

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260307.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 06 March 2026 **The Astrosphere ...

2026-03-06T05:05:49Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

06 March 2026

**The Astrosphere of HD 61005**

Image Credit: NASA, CXC, Johns Hopkins Univ., NASA, ESA, STIS, NSF, NoirLab, CTIO, DECaPS2, NASA, CXC, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:

Do young stars blow bubbles?

The larger view shows a stellar field observed with the
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory
in Chile, and the inset highlights
HD 61005,
a star like our Sun,
only 120 light-years
away.

Much
younger
than the Sun, at just about 100 million years old, it blows a fast and dense
stellar wind
that pushes out the cooler dust and gas that
surrounds it,
forming a bubble called an astrosphere.

The star-blown bubble was
detected
with the
Chandra
X-ray Observatory,
and it has a diameter roughly 200 times the
Earth-Sun distance.

Our Sun has a bubble too, called the
heliosphere, which
protects the planets from
cosmic radiation.

Also shown in the inset is
debris
left behind from star formation, observed by
Hubble.

The debris appears as
wings,
giving the star its nickname: the
Moth.

#APOD #HD61005 #Astrosphere #YoungStars #StellarWind #StellarWindBubbles

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260306.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 05 March 2026 **Total Lunar ...

2026-03-05T05:09:50Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

05 March 2026

**Total Lunar Eclipse over Tsé Bit'a'í**

Image Credit: Satoru Murata, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:

Earlier this week, Earth’s shadow swept across the full Moon in the year’s only
total lunar eclipse.

This stunning sequence combines images showing the Moon’s path across the night sky.

Each lunar image captures our planet’s shadow gradually engulfing the Moon, culminating in its red glow.

Sunlight scatters and refracts as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere toward the Moon.

Shorter wavelength light (blue and green) scatters more efficiently, leaving
red, orange, and yellow hues to paint the lunar surface.

Tsé Bit'a'í (”rock with wings”, also known as Shiprock), located in
Navajo Nation, provides a powerful
volcanic foreground central to this photo and
to stories of Navajo origin, adventure, and heroism.

As the first full moon of the lunar new year, this eclipse held significance across cultures.

Visible from East Asia to North America, this eclipse united observers across great distances, a cosmic reminder that we share the same sky.

#APOD #TotalLunarEclipse #TséBit #Shiprock #Moon #EarthShadow

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260305.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 04 March 2026 **Shapley 1: An ...

2026-03-04T05:13:59Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

04 March 2026

**Shapley 1: An Annular Planetary Nebula**

Image Credit: Peter Bresseler, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC, CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:
What’s looking back at you isn’t a cosmic eye, but
Shapley 1,
a beautifully symmetric
planetary nebula.

Shapley 1, also known as the
Fine Ring Nebula or
PLN 329+2.1,
bejewels the southern sky constellation of the
Carpenter's Square
(Norma).

The nebula is the result of a star near the mass of our Sun
running out of fuel and shedding its outer layers.

Glowing oxygen from those expelled layers makes up the circular halo.

The bright central point is actually a binary: a
white dwarf, the remaining stellar core after the outer layers are expelled into space, and another star, orbiting each other every 2.9 days.

Shapley 1’s
annular shape is due to our
top-down view of the system and provides insight into the
influence of central stars on planetary nebula structures.

#APOD #Shapley1 #PlanetaryNebula #AnnularNebula #FineRingNebula #PNL329

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260304.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 03 March 2026 **The Dusty ...

2026-03-03T05:18:09Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

03 March 2026

**The Dusty Surroundings of Orion and the Pleiades**

Image Credit: Ignacio Fernández

Explanation:
How well do you know the night sky?

OK, but how well can you identify famous sky objects in a
very deep image?

Either way, here is a test: see if you can find some well-known
night-sky icons
in a deep image filled with filaments of normally faint dust and gas.

This image
contains the
Pleiades star cluster,
Barnard's Loop,
Orion Nebula,
Aldebaran,
Betelgeuse,
Witch Head Nebula,
Eridanus Loop, and the
California Nebula.

To find their real locations,
here is an annotated image version.

The reason this
task might be difficult is similar to
the reason it is initially hard to identify familiar
constellations
in a very
dark sky:
the tapestry of our night sky has an extremely deep
hidden complexity.

The
featured composite
reveals some of
this complexity in a 16 hours of sky exposure in dark skies over
Granada,
Spain.

#APOD #Orion #Pleiades #Dust #Nebula #Stargazing

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260302.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 01 March 2026 **Lunar ...

2026-03-01T05:05:33Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

01 March 2026

**Lunar Occultation of Mercury**

Image Credit: Fabrizio Melandri

Explanation:

Fans of the western sky
after sunset have lately enjoyed this month's
remarkable array of bright planets.

Witnessed from some
locations, on February 18
planet Mercury even appeared to slide
behind the Moon, an event known as a lunar occultation.

These two snapshots, taken in early evening skies
show before and after telescopic views of the rare disappearance of
innermost planet
behind young Moon.

The top panel finds bright Mercury just visible at
the northern (right) edge of the
earthshine-illuminated
lunar disk.

In the bottom panel the bright planet has emerged in
darker skies beyond the Moon's sunlit crescent.

As seen south of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, planet Earth,
this lunar occultation of Mercury lasted only about 3 minutes
(video).

But you can still check out a parade of
planets tonight.

#APOD #lunaroccultation #mercury #Moon #celestialevent #astronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260228.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 28 February 2026 **Sharpless 249 ...

2026-02-28T05:09:22Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

28 February 2026

**Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula**

Image Credit: Katelyn Beecroft

Explanation:

Normally faint and elusive, the Jellyfish Nebula is caught in
this alluring telescopic field of view.

Floating in the interstellar sea, the nebula is
anchored right and left by two bright stars,
Mu and
Eta
Geminorum, at the foot of the
celestial twins.

The Jellyfish Nebula itself is right of center, seen as a brighter arcing
ridge of emission with dangling tentacles.

In fact, this cosmic jellyfish is part of bubble-shaped
supernova remnant IC 443, the expanding
debris cloud from a
massive star that exploded.

Light from the explosion first reached planet Earth over 30,000 years
ago.

Like its cousin in
astrophysical waters the
Crab Nebula
supernova remnant, the Jellyfish Nebula is
known
to harbor a neutron star, the
ultradense remnant of
the collapsed stellar core.

An emission nebula cataloged as
Sharpless
249 fills the field at the upper left.

The Jellyfish Nebula is about 5,000 light-years away.

At that distance, this image would be about 300 light-years across.

#APOD #Sharpless249 #JellyfishNebula #SupernovaRemnant #IC443 #NeutronStar

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260227.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 27 February 2026 **Webb and ...

2026-02-27T05:13:20Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

27 February 2026

**Webb and Hubble: IC 5332**

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, PHANGS-JWST and PHANGS-HST, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:

What does the universe look like through
infrared goggles?

Our eyes can only see
visible light,
but astronomers want to see more.

Today’s APOD shows
spiral galaxy
IC 5332
as seen by two
NASA
telescopes:
Webb in
mid-infrared
and Hubble in
ultraviolet
and visible light.

To toggle between the two space-based views just slide your cursor over
the image
(or follow this link).

The Hubble image highlights the
spiral arms
of the galaxy separated by
dark
regions, whereas the Webb image reveals a finer, more tangled structure.
Interstellar dust
scatters and absorbs light from the stars in the galaxy,
causing the
dark dust lanes
in the Hubble image, and then emits heat in infrared light, so dust
glows
in this Webb image.

The
Mid-InfraRed Instrument
on Webb needs to operate at a chilling temperature of
-266ºC (or - 447ºF), otherwise it would detect infrared radiation from
the telescope itself.
Combining
these observations,
astronomers
connect the “small scale” of gas and stars to the truly large scale of
galactic structure and evolution.

#APOD #Hubble #JamesWebb #Infrared #InfraredAstronomy #DeepSpace

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260226.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 26 February 2026 **The Egg ...

2026-02-26T05:17:18Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

26 February 2026

**The Egg Nebula from the Hubble Telescope**

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, B. Balick, U. Washington

Explanation:
Ever wonder what it would look like to crack open the Sun?

The
Egg Nebula, a dying
Sun-like star, can unscramble this question.

Pictured is a combination of several visible and
infrared images of the nebula
(also known as RAFGL 2688 or
CRL 2688) taken with the
Hubble Space Telescope.

The star has shed its outer layers, and a
bright, hot core
(or "yolk") now illuminates the milky "egg white"
shells
of gas and dust surrounding the center.

The central lobes and rings are structures of
gas and dust recently ejected into space,
with the dust being dense enough to block our view of the
stellar core.

Light beams emanate from that
blocked core,
escaping through holes carved in the
older ejected material by newer, faster
jets expelled from the
star’s poles.

Astronomers are
still trying to figure out what causes the disks, lobes, and jets during this short (only a few thousand years!) phase of the star’s
evolution, making this an egg-cellent image to study!

#APOD #EggNebula #HubbleSpaceTelescope #Nebula #Space #Astronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260225.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 25 February 2026 **Planet Parade ...

2026-02-25T05:21:27Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

25 February 2026

**Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House**

Image Credit: Prasun Agrawal

Explanation:
Look up this week and see a whole bunch of planets.

Just after sunset, looking west (mostly), planets
Mercury,
Venus,
Saturn, and
Jupiter
will all be visible to the unaided eye simultaneously.

If you have a telescope, planets
Uranus and
Neptune can also be seen.

In order up from the horizon, the lineup this week will be
Venus (the brightest),
Mercury,
Saturn,
Neptune, Uranus, and
Jupiter (second brightest).

It doesn't matter where on
Earth
you live because this early evening
planet parade will be visible through
clear skies all around the globe.

The planets will appear to be nearly in a line because they all orbit the
Sun in nearly the same plane: the
ecliptic.

The featured image shows a
similar planet parade that occurred in 2022,
captured over the
Sydney Opera House in southern
Australia.

Although
visible all week, the planets will be most easily seen together this weekend.

#APOD #PlanetParade #Sydney #Mercury #Venus #Saturn

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260224.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 24 February 2026 **Pleiades: The ...

2026-02-24T05:25:32Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

24 February 2026

**Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster**

Image Credit: Kamil Fiedosiuk

Explanation:
Have you ever seen the Pleiades star cluster?

Even if you have, you probably have never seen it as large and clear as this.

Perhaps the most famous star cluster on the sky, the bright stars of the
Pleiades
can be seen with the unaided eye even from the depths of a
light-polluted city.

With a long exposure from a dark location, though,
the dust cloud surrounding the
Pleiades star
cluster becomes very evident.

The featured 18-hour exposure, taken from
Bory Tucholskie,
Poland
covers a sky area several times the size of the full
moon.

Also known as the Seven Sisters and
M45,
the Pleiades lies about
400 light years away toward the constellation of the Bull
(Taurus).

A common legend with a
modern twist is that one of the brighter stars faded since the cluster was named, leaving only six of the sister stars visible to the unaided eye.

The actual number of
Pleiades stars visible,
however, may be more or less than seven, depending on the
darkness of the surrounding sky and the
clarity of the observer's eyesight.

#APOD #Pleiades #SevenSisters #StarCluster #OpenCluster #Stargazing

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260223.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 23 February 2026 **Shadow of a ...

2026-02-23T05:08:31Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

23 February 2026

**Shadow of a Martian Robot**

Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Mars Exploration Rover Mission

Explanation:
What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't
human?

Then you might be the
Opportunity rover exploring Mars.

Opportunity explored the
Red Planet
from 2004 to 2018, finding
evidence of ancient water,
and sending breathtaking images across the inner
Solar System.

Pictured
here in 2004, Opportunity looks opposite the Sun into
Endurance Crater and sees its own
shadow.

Two wheels are visible on the lower left and right,
while the floor and walls of the unusual crater are
visible in the background.

Caught in a dust storm
in 2018,
Opportunity stopped responding,
and NASA stopped trying to contact it
in 2019 and declared the
ground-breaking mission,
originally planned for only 92 days,
complete.

#APOD #Mars #MarsRover #MartianShadow #MarsSurface #SpaceExploration

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260222.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 22 February 2026 **Twilight with ...

2026-02-22T05:12:37Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

22 February 2026

**Twilight with Moon and Planets**

Image Credit: Tunc Tezel, TWAN

Explanation:

Only two days
after the February New Moon's annular eclipse of the Sun,
a slender lunar crescent poses
above the western horizon after sunset in this wintry twilight skyscape.

Its nightside faintly illuminated by earthshine, the young Moon is
joined by three bright planets
in the mostly clear, early evening skies above the village of
Kirazli, Turkiye.

Inner planet
Venus appears closest
to the horizon.

Near the beginning of its 2026 performance as planet Earth's evening star,
brilliant Venus is seen through the
warm sunset glare near picture center.

Straight above Venus, innermost planet
Mercury is easy to
spot as it stands remarkably high above the horizon even as
the twilight sky is growing dark.

Outer planet
Saturn,
most distant of the naked-eye planets,
is found just left of the Moon's sunlit crescent.

#APOD #Twilight #Moon #Planets #NewMoon #Eclipse

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260221.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 20 February 2026 **B93: A Dark ...

2026-02-20T05:20:55Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

20 February 2026

**B93: A Dark Interstellar Ghost**

Image Credit: Christian Bertincourt, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC, CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:
"A ghost in the Milky Way…” says Christian Bertincourt,
the astrophotographer behind
this striking image of Barnard 93 (B93).

The 93rd entry in
Barnard’s Catalogue of Dark Nebulae, B93 lies within the
Small Sagittarius Star Cloud
(Messier 24),
where its darkness stands in
stark contrast
to bright stars and gas in the background.

In some ways, B93 is really like a
ghost,
because it contains gas and dust that was dispersed by
the deaths of stars, like
supernovas.

B93 appears as a dark void not because it is empty, but because its
dust blocks the light
emitted by more distant stars and glowing gas.

Like other dark nebulas, some gas from
B93,
if dense and
massive enough, will eventually
gravitationally condense to form new stars.

If so, then
once these stars ignite,
B93 will transform from a dark ghost into a brilliant
cradle of newborn stars.

#APOD #B93 #Barnard93 #DarkNebula #MilkyWay #Sagittarius

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260220.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 18 February 2026 **Orion's ...

2026-02-18T05:08:14Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

18 February 2026

**Orion's Cradle**

Image Credit: Piotr Czerski

Explanation:
Cradled in red-glowing hydrogen gas, stars are being born in Orion.

These stellar nurseries lie at the edge of the giant
Orion molecular cloud complex, some 1,500
light-years away.

This detailed view spans about 12
degrees across the
center of the well-known constellation, with the
Great Orion Nebula,
the closest large
star-forming region, visible toward the lower right.

The deep mosaic also includes, near the top center,
the Flame Nebula and the
Horsehead Nebula.

Image data acquired with a
hydrogen-alpha filter adds other remarkable features
to this wide-angle cosmic vista:
pervasive tendrils of energized atomic
hydrogen gas and portions of the surrounding
Barnard's Loop.

While the Orion Nebula and many
stars in Orion
are easy to see with the unaided eye, emission from the extensive
interstellar gas is faint and much
harder to record, even in telescopic views of the nebula-rich complex.

#APOD #OrionNebula #HorseheadNebula #FlameNebula #BarnardsLoop #HydrogenAlpha

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260218.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 17 February 2026 **Unexplained ...

2026-02-17T05:12:11Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

17 February 2026

**Unexplained Shocks Around a White Dwarf Star**

Image Credit: ESO, K. Iłkiewicz, S. Scaringi, et al., Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:
How is RXJ0528+2838 creating such shock waves?

A recently discovered
white dwarf star,
the farther left of the two largest white spots,
RXJ0528+2838,
was found 730
light-years away from
Earth.

Most stars, when
done fusing nuclei in their cores for energy, become
red giant stars, the cores of which
live on as faint dense
white dwarfs that slowly cool down for the rest of time.

White dwarfs are so dense that the
only thing that stops them from collapsing further is
quantum mechanics.

In about 5 billion years,
our Sun will become a
white dwarf, too.

The featured image, obtained with the
European Southern Observatory’s
Very Large Telescope, shows unexplained
bow shocks around RXJ0528+2838, similar to the
bow wave of water around a fast-moving ship.

Astronomers
don’t yet know what is powering
these shocks, which have existed for at least 1,000 years.

The red, green and blue colors represent trace amounts of glowing
hydrogen,
nitrogen and
oxygen gas.

#APOD #Astronomy #WhiteDwarf #RXJ0528 #AccretionShock #XrayAstronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260216.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 16 February 2026 **To Fly Free ...

2026-02-16T05:16:13Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

16 February 2026

**To Fly Free in Space**

Image Credit: NASA, STS-41B

Explanation:
What would it be like to fly free in space?

About 100 meters from the cargo bay of a
space shuttle,
Bruce McCandless II was living the dream --
floating farther out than anyone had ever been before.

Guided by a
Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut McCandless,
pictured, was
floating free in space.

During Space Shuttle mission

41-B in 1984,
McCandless and fellow
NASA astronaut
Robert Stewart were the first to
experience such an
"untethered space walk".

The MMU worked by shooting jets of
nitrogen
and was used to help deploy and
retrieve satellites.

With a mass over 140 kilograms, an
MMU is heavy
on Earth,
but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in orbit.

The MMU was later replaced with the
SAFER backpack propulsion unit.

#APOD #SpaceTravel #ZeroGravity #Spaceflight #Astronomy #CosmicJourney

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260215.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 14 February 2026 **Roses are ...

2026-02-14T05:05:37Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

14 February 2026

**Roses are Red**

Image Credit: Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC, CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:

Roses are red, nebulas are too, and this Valentine's gift is a
stunning view!

Pictured is a loving look at the
Rosette Nebula
(NGC 2237):
a cosmic bloom of bright young stars sitting atop a
stem of glowing hot gas.

The rose’s blue-white speckles are among the
most luminous stars in the galaxy,
with some burning millions of times brighter than the Sun.

Their stellar winds
sculpt the famed rose shape by pushing gas and dust away from the center.

Though only a few million years old, these massive stars are
already nearing the
end of their lives,
while dimmer stars embedded in the nebula will burn for billions
of years to come.

The vibrant red hue comes from
hydrogen gas,
ionized by the
ultraviolet light from the young stars.

The rose’s blue-white center is
color-mapped to indicate the presence of similarly ionized oxygen.

The Rosette Nebula reminds us of the beauty and transformation
woven into the fabric of the universe.

#APOD #Astronomy #Astrophoto #Space #Science

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260214.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 13 February 2026 **The Bay of ...

2026-02-13T05:13:31Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

13 February 2026

**The Bay of Rainbows**

Image Credit: Olaf Filzinger

Explanation:

Dark, smooth regions that cover the Moon's
familiar face
are called by Latin names for oceans and seas.

That naming
convention is
historical,
though it may seem a little ironic to denizens of the space age
who recognize the Moon as a
mostly dry and airless world,
and the smooth, dark areas as
lava-flooded impact basins.

For example, this telescopic lunar vista,
looks over the expanse of the northwestern Mare Imbrium,
or Sea of Rains and into the Sinus Iridum, the
Bay of Rainbows.

Ringed by the
Jura Mountains (montes),
the bay is about 250 kilometers across.

Seen after local sunrise, the mountains form part of the
Sinus Iridum impact crater wall.

Their rugged sunlit arc is bounded at the top by Cape (promontorium) Laplace
reaching nearly 3,000 meters above the bay's surface.

At the bottom of the arc is Cape Heraclides,
depicted
by Giovanni Cassini in his 1679 telescope-based
drawings mapping the moon, as a
moon maiden
seen in profile with
long, flowing hair.

#APOD #Astronomy #Universe #Astronomy #Cosmos

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260212.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 12 February 2026 **A Year of ...

2026-02-12T05:21:17Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

12 February 2026

**A Year of Sunspots**

Image Credit: NASA, SDO, Şenol Şanli, Uğur İkizler, Cecilia Chirenti, NASA, GSFC, CRESST II

Explanation:
How many
sunspots can you see?

The central image shows the many sunspots that occurred in 2025, month by month around the circle, and all together in the grand central image.

Each sunspot is magnetically cooled and so appears dark -- and can last from days to months.

Although the
featured images originated from
NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory,
sunspots can be easily seen with a small telescope or
binoculars equipped with a
solar filter.

Very large sunspot groups like
recent AR 4366 can even be seen with
eclipse glasses.

Sunspots are still
counted by eye,
but the total number is not considered exact
because they frequently
change and break up.

Last year, 2025, coincided with a
solar maximum, the period of most
intense magnetic activity during its 11-year
solar cycle.

Our Sun remains
unpredictable in many ways,
including when it ejects
solar flares that will impact the
Earth, and
how active
the next solar cycle will be.

#APOD #Sunspots #SolarActivity #SunspotCycle #SolarCycle #Sun

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260211.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 11 February 2026 **In Green ...

2026-02-11T05:07:57Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

11 February 2026

**In Green Company: Aurora over Norway**

Image Credit: Max Rive

Explanation:
Raise your arms if you see an aurora.

With those instructions, two nights went by with, well,
clouds -- mostly.

On the third night of returning to same peaks, though,
the sky not only cleared up but lit up with a
spectacular auroral display.

Arms went high in the air, patience and experience
paid off, and the creative
featured image was captured as a composite from three separate
exposures.

The setting is a summit of the
Austnesfjorden
(a fjord) close to the town of
Svolvear on the
Lofoten islands in northern
Norway.

The year was 2014.

This year, our
Sun
is just passing
solar maximum, the peak in its 11-year
surface activity cycle.

As expected, some
spectacular
auroras have
recently
resulted.

#APOD #Aurora #NorthernLights #AuroraBorealis #LofotenAurora #NorwayAurora

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260210.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 10 February 2026 **Miranda ...

2026-02-10T05:15:40Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

10 February 2026

**Miranda Revisited**

Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Voyager 2, zelario12, Keighley Rockcliffe, NASA, GSFC, UMBC, CSST, CRESST II

Explanation:
What is Miranda really like?

Visually,
old images from NASA's
Voyager 2 have been recently combined and
remastered to result in the
featured image of
Uranus's 500-kilometer-wide moon.

In the late 1980s,
Voyager 2
flew by
Uranus, coming close to the
cratered, fractured, and unusually grooved moon --
named after a
character from
Shakespeare’s
The Tempest.

Scientifically, planetary scientists are using old data and clear images to
theorize anew about what shaped Miranda's
severe surface features.

A leading hypothesis is that
Miranda, beneath its icy surface, may have once hosted an
expansive liquid water ocean which may be slowly freezing.

Thanks to the legacy of Voyager 2,
Miranda has joined the ranks of
Europa,
Titan,
and other icy moons in the
search for water,
and, possibly, microbial
life, in our
Solar System.

#APOD #Miranda #Uranus #Moon #PlanetaryScience #Astronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260209.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 09 February 2026 **Active ...

2026-02-09T05:23:30Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

09 February 2026

**Active Sunspot Region 4366 Crosses the Sun**

Image Credit: Daniel Korona

Explanation:
An unusually active sunspot region is now crossing the Sun.

The region, labelled
AR 4366, is much larger than the Earth and has
produced several powerful solar
flares over the past ten days.

In the featured image, the region is marked by large and dark
sunspots
toward the upper right of the Sun's disk.

The image captured the Sun over a hill in
Zacatecas,
Mexico, 5 days ago.

AR 4366 has become a candidate for the most active solar region in this entire 11-year
solar cycle.

Active solar regions
are frequently associated with increased
auroral activity on the
Earth.

Now reaching the edge,
AR 4366 will begin facing away from the
Earth during the coming week.

It is not known, though, if the active region will survive long enough to reappear in about two weeks' time, as the
Sun rotates.

#APOD #Sunspot #AR4366 #SolarActivity #SolarFlares #SolarFlare

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260208.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 08 February 2026 **Crescent ...

2026-02-08T05:10:11Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

08 February 2026

**Crescent Enceladus**

Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

Explanation:

Peering from the shadows, the
Saturn-facing hemisphere of
tantalizing inner moon Enceladus
poses in this Cassini spacecraft image.

North is up in
the
dramatic scene captured during November 2016 as
Cassini's camera was pointed in a nearly sunward direction
about 130,000 kilometers from the moon's bright crescent.

In fact, the distant world reflects over 90 percent of the sunlight
it receives, giving its surface about the same reflectivity as
fresh snow.

A mere 500 kilometers in diameter,
Enceladus is a surprisingly
active moon.

Data and images collected during Cassini's flybys have revealed
water vapor and ice grains spewing
from south polar geysers and evidence of an
ocean of liquid water hidden beneath
the moon's icy crust.

#APOD #Enceladus #Cassini #SaturnMoons #IcyMoon #PlanetaryScience

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260207.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 07 February 2026 **Supernova ...

2026-02-07T05:17:57Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

07 February 2026

**Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A**

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Explanation:

Massive stars
in our Milky Way Galaxy live spectacular lives.

Collapsing from vast cosmic clouds, their nuclear furnaces
ignite and create heavy elements in their cores.

After only a few million years for the most massive stars, the
enriched material is blasted
back into interstellar space where star formation can begin anew.

The expanding debris cloud known as Cassiopeia A is an example
of this final phase of the
stellar life cycle.

Light from the supernova explosion that created this remnant
would have been first
seen in planet Earth's sky
about 350 years ago,
although it took that light 11,000 years to reach us.

This sharp NIRCam image
from the James Webb Space Telescope
shows the still-hot filaments and knots in the supernova remnant.

The whitish, smoke-like outer shell of the expanding blast wave
is about 20 light-years across.

A series of light echoes
from the massive star's cataclysmic explosion are also
identified in Webb's detailed images
of the surrounding interstellar medium.

#APOD #Astronomy #Astronomy #NASA #Astrogeek

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260206.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 06 February 2026 **NGC 1275 in ...

2026-02-06T05:25:51Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

06 February 2026

**NGC 1275 in the Perseus Cluster**

Image Credit: Michal Wierzbinski, Hellas-Sky

Explanation:

Active galaxy
NGC 1275 is the central, dominant member of the large and
relatively nearby
Perseus Cluster of Galaxies.

Wild-looking at visible wavelengths, the active galaxy is also a
prodigious source of
x-rays
and
radio
emission.

NGC 1275 accretes matter as entire galaxies fall into it, ultimately
feeding a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core.

Narrowband image data used in this sharp telescopic image
highlights the resulting
galactic debris
and filaments of glowing gas,
some up to 20,000 light-years long.

The filaments persist
in NGC 1275, even though
the turmoil of galactic collisions should destroy them.

What keeps the filaments together?

Observations
indicate that the structures, pushed out
from the galaxy's center by the black hole's activity, are
held together by magnetic fields.

Also known as Perseus A,
NGC 1275 itself spans over 100,000 light years and
lies about 230 million light years away.

#APOD #Universe #Space #Astrophoto Astrophotography

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260205.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 05 February 2026 **Spiral Galaxy ...

2026-02-05T05:12:49Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

05 February 2026

**Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field**

Image Credit: Daniel Stern

Explanation:
Most galaxies don't have any rings -- why does this galaxy have three?

To begin, a ring that's near
NGC 1512's center --
and so hard to see here -- is the
nuclear ring
which glows brightly with recently formed
stars.

Next out is a ring of stars and
dust appearing both red and blue, called,
counter-intuitively, the inner ring.

This inner ring connects ends of a diffuse
central bar
of stars that runs horizontally across the galaxy.

Farthest out in this wide field image is a
ragged structure that might be considered an outer ring.

This outer ring appears spiral-like and is dotted with
clusters of bright blue stars.

All these ring structures are thought to be affected by
NGC 1512's own gravitational asymmetries in a drawn-out process called
secular
evolution.

The featured image was captured last month from a telescope at
Deep Sky Chile in
Chile.

#APOD #NASA #NASAInspires #Astrophoto #Astronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260204.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 04 February 2026 **Red Spider ...

2026-02-04T05:20:44Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

04 February 2026

**Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb**

Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. H. Kastner, RIT

Explanation:
Oh what a
tangled web
a planetary nebula can weave.

The Red Spider Planetary Nebula
shows the complex structure that can result when a
normal star ejects
its outer gases and becomes a
white dwarf star.

Officially tagged
NGC
6537, this two-lobed symmetric
planetary nebula
houses one of the
hottest white dwarfs ever observed,
probably as part of a binary star system.

Internal winds flowing out from the central stars,
have been measured in excess of 1,000 kilometers per second.

These
winds expand the
nebula, flow along the nebula's walls, and cause waves of hot
gas and
dust to collide.

Atoms
caught in these colliding shocks radiate light shown in the

featured false-color
infrared picture by the
James Webb Space Telescope.

The
Red Spider Nebula lies toward the constellation of the Archer
(Sagittarius).

Its distance is not well known but has been
estimated by some to be about 4,000 light-years.

#APOD #Astrogeek #Space #Universe #Astrophoto

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260203.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 03 February 2026 **Orion: The ...

2026-02-03T05:06:51Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

03 February 2026

**Orion: The Running Man Nebula**

Image Credit: Robert G. Lyons, Robservatory

Explanation:
What part of Orion is this?

Just north of the famous
Orion Nebula is a picturesque
star
forming region in
Orion's Sword that contains a lot of intricate
dust -- some of which appears blue
because it reflects the light of
bright embedded stars.

The region's popular name is the
Running Man Nebula because,
looked at from the right, part of the brown dust appears to be running legs.

Cataloged as
Sharpless 279,
the reflection nebula is not only part of the
constellation of
Orion, but part of the greater
Orion molecular cloud complex.

Light from the Running Man's bright stars, including
42 Orionis, the bright star closest to the
featured image center, is slowly
destroying and reshaping the surrounding dust,
which will likely be
completely gone in about 10 million years.

The nebula spans about 15
light years and lies about 1,500 light years away.

#APOD #Space #Astronomy #Science Astrophotography

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260202.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 02 February 2026 **Galle: Happy ...

2026-02-02T05:14:38Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

02 February 2026

**Galle: Happy Face Crater on Mars**

Image Credit: NASA, MGS, MSSS

Explanation:
Mars has put on a happy face.

The Martian crater
Galle is famous because it has
internal markings that make it look like a face that is both
smiling
and winking.

These markings were
originally
discovered in the 1970s in pictures taken by the
Viking Orbiter.

The
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft that orbited
Mars from 1996 to 2006 captured the
featured picture.

Happy Face Crater and its iconic features were
formed by chance billions of years ago when a
city-sized asteroid
slammed into the Martian surface.

All rocky planets and moons in
our Solar System show
impact craters,
with the highest number of craters found on
Earth's Moon and the planet
Mercury.

Earth and
Venus
would show the most, though, were it not for weather and
erosion.

#APOD #GalleCrater #HappyFaceCrater #Mars #MartianGeology #ImpactCrater

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260201.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 01 February 2026 **Artemis I: ...

2026-02-01T05:22:21Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

01 February 2026

**Artemis I: Flight Day 13**

Image Credit: NASA, Artemis I

Explanation:

On flight day 13
(November 28, 2022) of the Artemis 1 mission, the
Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth.

At over 430,000 kilometers from Earth,
its distant retrograde orbit also puts
Orion nearly 70,000 kilometers from the Moon.

In the
same field of view
in this video frame from flight day 13,
planet and large natural satellite
even appear about the same apparent size from
the spacecraft's perspective.

On flight day 26
(December 11, 2022),
the uncrewed spacecraft
splashed down on its home world concluding the historic Artemis I
mission.

The Artemis II
mission,
carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back
again, will launch no earlier than February 8.

#APOD #ArtemisI #FlightDay13 #OrionSpacecraft #MoonOrbit #EarthDistance

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260131.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 31 January 2026 **NGC 1333: ...

2026-01-31T05:09:02Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

31 January 2026

**NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus**

Image Credit: Robert Eder

Explanation:

NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a
reflection nebula,
dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by
interstellar dust.

A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation
Perseus,
it lies at the edge of a large,
star-forming molecular cloud.

This telescopic close-up spans
over two full moons on the sky or just
over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333.

It shows details of the dusty region
along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from
Herbig-Haro
objects, jets and shocked glowing gas
emanating from recently formed stars.

In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than
a million years old, most still
hidden from optical telescopes
by the pervasive stardust.

The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun
formed over 4.5 billion years ago.

#APOD #NGC1333 #StellarNursery #Perseus #ReflectionNebula #MolecularCloud

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260130.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 30 January 2026 **NGC 2442: ...

2026-01-30T05:16:40Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

30 January 2026

**NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans**

Image Credit: Mike Selby

Explanation:

Distorted galaxy NGC 2442
can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis)
Volans.

Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two
spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar give it a
hook-shaped appearance in this deep and colorful image,
with foreground stars scattered across the telescopic field of
view.

The image also reveals the distant galaxy's
obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and
reddish star forming regions
surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars.

But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along
the drawn-out (upper right)
spiral arm.

The distorted structure is likely the result of an ancient
close encounter
with a smaller galaxy that lies off top left of the frame.

This telescopic field of view
spans over 200,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442.

#APOD #NGC2442 #Galaxy #Volans #SouthernSky #SpiralGalaxy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260129.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 29 January 2026 **M78: ...

2026-01-29T05:24:03Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

29 January 2026

**M78: Reflecting Blue in a Sea of Red**

Image Credit: Daniel McCauley

Explanation:
In the vast Orion Molecular Cloud complex,
several bright blue nebulas are particularly apparent.

Pictured here in the center are two of the most prominent
reflection nebulas -
dust clouds lit by the
reflecting light of bright embedded
stars.

The more famous nebula is
M78,
in the image center, cataloged over 200 years ago.

To its upper left is the lesser known
NGC 2071.

Astronomers continue to
study these
reflection nebulas to
better understand how interior stars form.

The overall red glow is from diffuse
hydrogen gas
that covers much of the
Orion complex
that spans much of the
constellation of Orion.

Nearby in the
greater complex,
which lies about 1,500
light years away, are the
Orion Nebula,
the Horsehead Nebula, and
Barnard's Loop --
partially seen here as the white band on the upper left.

#APOD #M78 #OrionNebula #ReflectionNebula #OrionComplex #NGC2071

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260128.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 28 January 2026 **Orion's ...

2026-01-28T05:10:48Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

28 January 2026

**Orion's Treasures over Snowy Mountains**

Image Credit: Włodzimierz Bubak, Ogetay Kayali

Explanation:
Rising over a frozen valley in the
Tatra Mountains, the familiar stars and nebulas of
Orion dominate this wide-field nightscape.

The featured deep photo was
taken
in southern
Poland's
highest mountain range last month, where
dark skies and
alpine terrain combined to reveal both Earth's
rugged beauty and the structure of
our galaxy.

Above the snowy mountains,
Orion's bright belt stars
anchor a region of glowing interstellar clouds.

The Great Orion Nebula, a vast
stellar nursery visible even to the unaided eye,
shines near the center of the scene.

Surrounding it is the enormous arc of
Barnard's Loop,
a faint shell of
ionized hydrogen gas spanning much of the
constellation.

To the left, the round
Rosette Nebula glows softly,
while the grayish
Witch Head Nebula hovers to the right,
illuminated by nearby starlight.

Near the top, the orange supergiant
Betelgeuse
marks the hunter's shoulder.

#APOD #Orion #Stargazing #NightSky #TatraMountains #Poland

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260127.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 27 January 2026 **NGC 55: A ...

2026-01-27T05:18:26Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

27 January 2026

**NGC 55: A Galaxy of Nebulas**

Image Credit: Wolfgang Promper, Ogetay Kayali

Explanation:
Can you see nebulas in other galaxies?

Yes, some
nebulas shine brightly enough -- if you know how to look.

Clouds of
hydrogen and
oxygen
emit light at very specific colors,
and by isolating them, astronomers and astrophotographers
can reveal structures that would otherwise be
too faint to notice.

This deep, 50-hour exposure highlights glowing
hydrogen (red) and
oxygen (blue) across galaxy
NGC 55, viewed nearly
edge-on.

Also known as the
String of Pearls Galaxy,
NGC 55 is often compared to our
Milky Way's satellite galaxy the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC),
although NGC 55 lies much farther away at about 6.5 million
light-years.

The resulting image
uncovers a sprinkling of
emission nebulas
within and sometimes above the galaxy's
dusty disk,
offering a detailed look at distant
star-forming regions.

#APOD #NGC55 #MilkyWayNeighbor #GalaxyOfNebulas #UnresolvedNebula #DeepSpace

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260126.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 26 January 2026 **Phobos: Doomed ...

2026-01-26T05:26:17Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

26 January 2026

**Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars**

Image Credit: NASA, LPL (U. Arizona), MRO, HiRISE

Explanation:
This moon is doomed.

Mars,
the red planet named for the
Roman god of war, has two tiny moons,
Phobos and
Deimos, whose
names are derived from the Greek for Fear and
Panic.

These Martian moons may well be captured
asteroids
originating in the main
asteroid belt between Mars and
Jupiter
or perhaps from even more distant reaches of
our Solar System.

The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seen
to be a cratered, asteroid-like object in this
stunning color image from the robotic
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
which can image objects as small as 10 meters.

But Phobos orbits
so close to Mars - about 5,800 kilometers above the
surface compared to 400,000 kilometers
for our Moon - that gravitational
tidal forces are dragging it down.

In perhaps 50 million years,
Phobos is expected to disintegrate
into a ring of debris.

#APOD #Phobos #Mars #MartianMoons #Astronomy #Astrophysics

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260125.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 25 January 2026 **Earthset from ...

2026-01-25T05:13:02Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

25 January 2026

**Earthset from Orion**

Image Credit: NASA, Artemis 1

Explanation:

Eight billion people
are about to disappear in this
snapshot from space
taken on 2022 November 21.

On the
sixth day of the Artemis I mission,
their home world is setting behind the Moon's bright edge as viewed by
an
external camera
on the outbound Orion spacecraft.

Orion was headed for a powered flyby that
took it to within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface.

Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver was used to reach a
distant retrograde orbit
around the Moon.

That orbit is considered distant because it's another 92,000 kilometers
beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft
orbited in the opposite direction of the Moon's orbit around planet
Earth.

Swinging around the Moon,
Orion reached a maximum distance (just over 400,000 kilometers)
from Earth on 2022 November 28, exceeding a record set by
Apollo 13 for most distant
spacecraft designed for
human space exploration.

The Artemis II mission,
carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back
again, is due to launch as early as February 6.

#APOD #Earthset #OrionSpacecraft #ArtemisI #LunarFlyby #SpaceObservations

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260124.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 24 January 2026 **Planetary ...

2026-01-24T05:20:07Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

24 January 2026

**Planetary Nebula Abell 7**

Image Credit: Martin Pugh

Explanation:

Very faint planetary nebula Abell 7 is about 1,800 light-years distant.

It lies just south of Orion in planet Earth's skies toward the
constellation
Lepus, The Hare.

Posing with scattered Milky Way stars, its
generally
simple spherical shape about 8 light-years in diameter is revealed in
this deep telescopic image.

The beautiful and complex shapes
seen within the cosmic cloud are visually
enhanced by the use of long exposures and
narrowband filters
that capture emission from hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

Otherwise Abell 7 would be much
too faint to be appreciated by eye.

A
planetary nebula
represents a very brief final phase
in stellar evolution that our own Sun will experience 5 billion
years hence,
as the nebula's central, once sun-like star shrugs off its outer layers.

Abell 7 itself is estimated to be 20,000 years old.

But its central star, seen here as a
fading white dwarf,
is some 10 billion years old.

#APOD #Abell7 #PlanetaryNebula #Orion #Lepus #DeepSky

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260123.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 22 January 2026 **LDN 1622: Dark ...

2026-01-22T05:14:59Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

22 January 2026

**LDN 1622: Dark Nebula in Orion**

Image Credit: Chris Fellows

Explanation:

The silhouette of an intriguing
dark nebula
inhabits
this cosmic scene.

Lynds' Dark Nebula
(LDN)
1622 appears against a faint
background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic
exposures of the region.

In contrast, a brighter reflection nebula,
vdB 62,
is more easily seen just above the dusty dark nebula.

LDN 1622 lies near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy,
close on the sky to
Barnard's Loop,
a large cloud surrounding the rich
complex of emission nebulae found in the Belt and Sword
of Orion.

With swept-back outlines, the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought
to lie at a similar distance, perhaps 1,500 light-years away.

At that distance, this 3 degree wide field of view
would span about 100 light-years.

Young
stars do lie hidden within the dark expanse and have been
revealed in Spitzer Space telescope
infrared
images.

Still, the
foreboding
visual appearance of LDN 1622
inspires its popular name,
the Boogeyman Nebula.

#APOD #LDN1622 #DarkNebula #OrionNebula #MilkyWay #BarnardsLoop

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260122.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 21 January 2026 **Barred Spiral ...

2026-01-21T05:20:30Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

21 January 2026

**Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb**

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, NOIRLab, STScI

Explanation:

A mere
56 million light-years distant toward the
southern constellation Fornax,
NGC 1365 is an enormous
barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years in diameter.

That's twice the size of our own barred spiral Milky Way.

This sharp image
from the
James Webb Space Telescope's
Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI)
reveals stunning details
of this magnificent spiral
in infrared light.

Webb's
field of view
stretches about 60,000 light-years
across NGC 1365, exploring the galaxy's core and bright newborn star
clusters.

The intricate network of dusty filaments and bubbles is
created by young stars along spiral arms winding from the
galaxy's central bar.

Astronomers suspect
the gravitational field of NGC 1365's bar plays
a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, funneling gas and dust into a
star-forming maelstrom
and ultimately feeding material
into the active galaxy's central,
supermassive black hole.

#APOD #NGC1365 #BarredSpiralGalaxy #JamesWebb #WebbSpaceTelescope #InfraredAstronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260121.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 19 January 2026 **CTB 1: The ...

2026-01-19T05:24:55Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

19 January 2026

**CTB 1: The Medulla Nebula**

Image Credit: Pierre Konzelmann

Explanation:
What powers this unusual nebula?

CTB 1 is the expanding gas shell that was left when a massive star toward the constellation of Cassiopeia
exploded about 10,000 years ago.

The star likely detonated when it ran out of elements, near its core, that could create
stabilizing pressure with
nuclear fusion.

The resulting
supernova remnant, nicknamed the Medulla Nebula for its
brain-like shape, still glows in
visible light
because of the heat generated by its collision with confining
interstellar gas.

Why
the nebula also glows in
X-ray light, though,
remains a topic of research.

One hypothesis holds that an energetic
pulsar
was created and powers the nebula with a fast outwardly moving wind.

Following this lead, a pulsar was
found in
radio waves
that appears to have
been expelled by the
supernova explosion
at over 1000 kilometers per second.

Although the Medulla Nebula appears as large as a
full moon,
it is so faint that it took 84-hours of exposure with
a small telescope in
Texas,
USA, to create the
featured image.

#APOD #astronomy #CTB1 #MedullaNebula #nebula #celestial

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260119.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 18 January 2026 **Apollo 14: A ...

2026-01-18T05:05:49Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

18 January 2026

**Apollo 14: A View from Antares**

Image Credit: Apollo 14, NASA, Eric M. Jones

Explanation:

Apollo 14's Lunar Module Antares
landed
on the Moon
on February 5, 1971.

Toward the end of the stay astronaut
Ed
Mitchell
snapped
a series
of photos
of the lunar surface while looking out a window,
assembled
into this detailed mosaic by
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
editor Eric Jones.

The view looks across the
Fra Mauro
highlands
to the northwest
of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed
their second and final
walk on the
Moon.

Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter,
a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples.

Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed
Turtle rock.

In the shallow crater below Turtle rock
is the long white handle of a sampling instrument,
thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell.

Mitchell's fellow moonwalker and first American in space,
Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six iron
to hit
two
golf balls.

One of Shepard's golf balls is just visible as a white spot
below
Mitchell's javelin.

#APOD #Apollo14 #Antares #LunarModule #NASA #LunarSurface

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260117.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 17 January 2026 **NGC 7023: The ...

2026-01-17T05:07:55Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

17 January 2026

**NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula**

Image Credit: Justus Falk

Explanation:

These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away
in the fertile starfields of the
constellation Cepheus.

Called the Iris Nebula,
NGC 7023
is not the only nebula
to evoke the imagery of flowers.

Still, this
deep telescopic image
shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries
embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust.

Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young
star.

The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue,
characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight.

Central filaments
of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish
photoluminescence as some dust grains
effectively convert
the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light.

Infrared
observations
indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as
PAHs.

The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years.

#APOD #NGC7023 #IrisNebula #Cepheus #Nebula #ReflectionNebula

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260116.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 16 January 2026 **Plato and the ...

2026-01-16T05:10:06Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

16 January 2026

**Plato and the Lunar Alps**

Image Credit: Luigi Morrone

Explanation:

The dark-floored, 95 kilometer wide crater Plato and sunlit peaks of the
lunar Alps
(Montes Alpes) are highlighted in this
this
sharp telescopic snapshot of the Moon's surface.

While the Alps
of planet Earth were uplifted over millions of
years as continental plates slowly collided, the lunar Alps were likely
formed by a sudden collision that created the giant
impact basin
known as the Mare Imbrium or Sea of Rains.

The mare's generally smooth, lava-flooded floor is seen
below the bordering mountain range.

The prominent straight feature cutting through the mountains
is the lunar Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes).

Joining the Mare Imbrium and northern Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold)
the valley extends toward the upper right, about 160 kilometers long
and up to 10 kilometers wide.

Of course, the large, bright
lunar alpine
mountain below and right of Plato crater is named
Mont Blanc.

Lacking an atmosphere, not to mention snow,
the lunar Alps are probably not an ideal location for a winter
vacation.

Still, a 150 pound skier
would
weigh a mere 25 pounds
on the Moon.

#APOD #PlatoCrater #LunarAlps #MontesAlpes #MareImbrium #LunarValleys

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260115.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 15 January 2026 **M51: The ...

2026-01-15T05:12:07Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

15 January 2026

**M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy**

Image Credit: Michael Sleeman

Explanation:
The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy.

At only 30 million
light years distant and fully 60 thousand light years across,
M51, also known as
NGC 5194, is one of the brightest and most
picturesque galaxies on the sky.

The featured deep image
is a digital combination of images taken in different colors
over 58 hours with a
telescope from
Lijiang,
China.

Anyone with a good pair of
binoculars,
however, can see this
Whirlpool toward the constellation
of the Hunting Dogs
(Canes Venatici).

M51 is a
spiral galaxy of type Sc
and is the dominant member of a
whole group of galaxies.

Astronomers
speculate that M51's
spiral structure is primarily due to its
gravitational interaction with the
smaller galaxy just above it.

#APOD #M51 #WhirlpoolGalaxy #NGC5194 #SpiralGalaxy #Astronomy

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260114.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 13 January 2026 Meteor Dust ...

2026-01-13T05:16:32Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

13 January 2026

**Meteor Dust**

Image Credit: Xu Chen

Explanation:
What's happening to this meteor?

It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the
Earth's atmosphere and heats up.

The sudden high temperatures not only cause the bright glow along the
dramatic streak but also
melt and vaporize the
meteor's component rock and ice, creating dust.

Wind in the atmosphere typically
blows this dust away
over the next few seconds, leaving
no visible trace after only a few minutes.

Much of this dust will
eventually settle down to the
Earth.

The featured image was captured in mid-December,
coincident with the
Geminids meteor shower.

On the upper left is Sirius, the
brightest star in the night sky,
while in the foreground is fog-engulfed
Huangshan,
the Yellow Mountains of eastern
China.

#APOD #Astrogeek lookUp #Astronomy #NASA

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260112.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 12 January 2026 **M104: The ...

2026-01-12T05:18:21Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

12 January 2026

**M104: The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared**

Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, SSC, R. Kennicutt, Steward Obs.

Explanation:
This floating ring is the size of a galaxy.

In fact, it is a galaxy -- or at least part of one: the photogenic
Sombrero Galaxy,
one of the largest galaxies in the nearby
Virgo Cluster of Galaxies.

The dark band of
dust that obscures the mid-section of the
Sombrero Galaxy in
visible light actually
glows brightly in
infrared light.

The featured image, digitally
sharpened, shows the
infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting
Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an
existing image taken by
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in
visible light.

The Sombrero
Galaxy, also known as
M104, spans about 50,000
light years and lies 28 million light years away.

M104
can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the
constellation Virgo.

#APOD #Astroeducation #Cosmos #Science #NASAInspires

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260111.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 11 January 2026 **Jupiter with ...

2026-01-11T05:20:18Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

11 January 2026

**Jupiter with the Great Red Spot**

Image Credit: Christopher Go

Explanation:

Jupiter reaches
its 2026 opposition today, January 10.

That puts our Solar System's
most massive planet
opposite the
Sun and near its closest and brightest for viewing from planet Earth.

In fact, captured only 3 days ago this sharp
telescopic snapshot
reveals excellent details of the ruling gas giant's
swirling cloudtops,
in light zones and dark belts girdling the
rapidly rotating outer planet.

Jupiter's famous, persistent anticyclonic vortex, known as the
Great Red Spot,
is south of the equator at the lower right.

But two smaller red spots are also visible, one near the top in the
northernmost zone, and one close to Jupiter's south pole.

And while Jupiter's Great Red Spot is
known to be shrinking,
it's still about the size of the Earth itself.

#APOD #Jupiter #GreatRedSpot #SolarSystem #Opposition2026 #SpaceObservation

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260110.html

The bot's code went through a major refactoring process, ...

2026-01-10T23:30:31Z

The bot's code went through a major refactoring process, ditching the APOD API in favor of switching to a more reliable APOD RSS feed. The hashtags will also become more relevant to the note topic with the help of AI.

Hiccups might be possible at the beginning.

Please bear with me. 🤞✨

Astronomy Picture of the Day 03 January 2026 **Full ...

2026-01-03T05:07:24Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

03 January 2026

**Full Moonlight**

Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai

The Full Moon is the brightest lunar phase, and tonight you can stand in the light of the first Full Moon of 2026. In fact, the Moon's full phase occurs on January 3 at 10:03 UTC, while only about 7 hours later planet Earth reaches its 2026 perihelion, the closest point in its elliptical orbit around the Sun, at 17:16 UTC. January's Full Moon was also not far from its own perigee, or closest approach to planet Earth. For this lunation the Moon's perigee was on January 1 at 21:44 UTC. You can also spot planet Jupiter, near its brightest for 2026 and close on the sky to the Full Moon tonight. But while you're out skygazing don't forget to look for rare, bright fireballs from the Quadrantid meteor shower.

#APOD #Astroeducation #Astroengineering #SpaceTech #Cosmology

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260103.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 02 January 2026 NanoSail-D2 ...

2026-01-02T05:05:56Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

02 January 2026

**NanoSail-D2**

Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh

In 2011, on January 20, NASA's NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very thin and very reflective 10 square meter sail becoming the first solar sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff of science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by astronomer Johannes Kepler, who had observed comet tails blown by the solar wind. But modern solar sail spacecraft designs, like NanoSail-D2, Japan's interplanetary spacecraft IKAROS, or the Planetary Society's Lightsail A, rely on the small but continuous pressure from sunlight itself for thrust. Glinting in the sunlight as it circled planet Earth, NanoSail-D2's solar sail was periodically bright and visible to the eye. These remarkably detailed images were captured by manually tracking the orbiting solar sail spacecraft with a small telescope.

#APOD #SpaceAdventures #Stellar #Planets #MeteorShowers

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260102.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 01 January 2026 **Auroral ...

2026-01-01T05:09:28Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

01 January 2026

**Auroral Corona**

Image Credit & Copyright: Roi Levi

Cycle 25 solar maximum made 2025 a great year for aurora borealis (or aurora australis) on planet Earth. And the high level of solar activity should extend into 2026. So, while you're celebrating the arrival of the new year, check out this spectacular auroral display that erupted in starry night skies over Kirkjufell, Iceland. The awesome auroral corona, energetic curtains of light streaming from directly overhead, was witnessed during a strong geomagnetic storm triggered by intense solar activity near the March 2025 equinox. This northland and skyscape captures the evocative display in a 21 frame panoramic mosaic.

#APOD #StarCluster #RocketScience #SpaceTechnology #SpaceObservatory

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260101.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 31 December 2025 **HH-222: The ...

2025-12-31T05:07:43Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

31 December 2025

**HH-222: The Waterfall Nebula**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Mike Selby

What created the Waterfall Nebula? The origin is still being researched. The structure, officially designated Herbig-Haro 222, appears in the region of NGC 1999 in the Great Orion Molecular Cloud complex. The elongated gaseous stream stretches about ten light years but appears similar to a long waterfall on Earth. Recent observations indicate that HH-222 is likely a gigantic gaseous bow shock, similar to a wave of water caused by a fast-moving ship. The origin of this shock wave is thought to be a jet outflow from the multiple star system V380 Orionis off the lower left of the frame. Therefore, gas does not flow along the waterfall, but rather the entire structure moves toward the upper right. The Waterfall Nebula lies about 1,500 light years away toward the constellation of Orion. The featured image was captured earlier this month from El Sauce Observatory in Chile. Jigsaw Nebula: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day

#APOD #Galaxy #Space #Stellar #SpaceResearch

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251231.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 30 December 2025 **An Artificial ...

2025-12-30T05:05:56Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

30 December 2025

**An Artificial Comet**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Wang Chao

Yes, but can your comet tail do this? No, and what you are seeing is not the tail of a comet. The picture features a cleverly overlayed time-lapse sequence of a group of satellites orbiting Earth together in June. Specifically, these are Starlink communications satellites in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight before sunrise to Inner Mongolia, China. Although the satellites appear to the human eye as points, the 20-second-long camera exposures caused them to appear as short streaks. Currently there are over 9000 Starlinks in orbit, with more being launched nearly every week. Other satellite constellations are also being planned. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

#APOD #Astrogeology #Cosmos #Astrochemistry #Cosmological

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251230.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 29 December 2025 **M1: The Crab ...

2025-12-29T05:09:08Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

29 December 2025

**M1: The Crab Nebula**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Alan Chen

This is the mess that is left when a star explodes. The Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova seen in 1054 AD, is filled with mysterious filaments. The filaments are not only tremendously complex but appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova and a higher speed than expected from a free explosion. The featured image was taken by an amateur astronomer in Leesburg, Florida, USA over three nights last month. It was captured in three primary colors but with extra detail provided by specific emission by hydrogen gas. The Crab Nebula spans about 10 light years. In the Nebula's very center lies a pulsar: a neutron star as massive as the Sun but with only the size of a small town. The Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times each second. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

#APOD #Galaxy #SpaceMission #SpaceInnovation #Astrogeology

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251229.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 28 December 2025 **NGC 1898: ...

2025-12-28T05:07:16Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

28 December 2025

**NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud**

*Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info.*

Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. And almost every spot in this jewel-box of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope is a star. Now, some stars are more red than our Sun, and some more blue -- but all of them are much farther away. Although it takes light about 8 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun, NGC 1898 is so far away that it takes light about 160,000 years to get here. This huge ball of stars, NGC 1898, is called a globular cluster and resides in the central bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) -- a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. The featured multi-colored image includes light from the infrared to the ultraviolet and was taken to help determine if the stars of NGC 1898 all formed at the same time or at different times. There are increasing indications that most globular clusters formed stars in stages, and that, in particular, stars from NGC 1898 formed shortly after ancient encounters with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and our Milky Way Galaxy. Space Telescopes Live: Where are Hubble and Webb looking right now?

#APOD #Astrobiology #Astrophoto #Meteorology #LunarMission

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251228.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 27 December 2025 **Apollo ...

2025-12-27T05:05:39Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

27 December 2025

**Apollo 17's Moonship**

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Awkward and angular looking, Apollo 17's lunar module Challenger was designed for flight in the near vacuum of space. Digitally enhanced and reprocessed, this picture taken from Apollo 17's command module America shows Challenger's ascent stage in lunar orbit. Small reaction control thrusters are at the sides of the moonship with the bell of the ascent rocket engine underneath. The hatch that allowed access to the lunar surface is seen at the front, with a round radar antenna at the top. Mission commander Gene Cernan is clearly visible through the triangular window. This spaceship performed gracefully, landing on the Moon and returning the Apollo astronauts to the orbiting command module in December of 1972. So where is Challenger now? While its descent stage remains at the Apollo 17 landing site in the Taurus-Littrow valley, the ascent stage pictured was intentionally crashed nearby after being jettisoned from the command module prior to the astronauts' return to planet Earth.

#APOD #CosmosJourney #Astrophotography #AstronomyLovers #GalacticAdventures

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251227.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 26 December 2025 **3I/ATLAS ...

2025-12-26T05:06:31Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

26 December 2025

**3I/ATLAS Flyby**

Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

Attention grabbing interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS made its not-so-close flyby of our fair planet on December 19 at a distance of 1.8 astronomical units. That's about 900 light-seconds. Still, this deep exposure captures the comet from another star system as it gently swept across a faint background of stars in the constellation Leo about 4 days earlier, on the night of December 15. Though faint, colors emphasized in the image data, show off the comet's yellowish dust tail and bluish ion tail along with a greenish tinged coma. And even while scrutinized by arrays of telescopes and spacecraft from planet Earth, 3I ATLAS is headed out of the Solar System. It's presently moving outward along a hyperbolic trajectory at about 64 kilometers per second relative to the Sun, too fast to be bound the Sun's gravity.

#APOD #SpaceExploration #Astrophysics #SpaceObservatory #SpaceMissions

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251226.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 25 December 2025 **Unicorn, Fox ...

2025-12-25T05:09:39Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

25 December 2025

**Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas Tree**

Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Kalika

A star forming region cataloged as NGC 2264, this beautiful but complex arrangement of interstellar gas and dust is about 2,700 light-years distant in the faint but fanciful constellation Monoceros, the Unicorn. Seen toward the celestial equator and near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the seasonal skyscape mixes reddish emission nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark interstellar dust clouds. Where the otherwise obscuring dust clouds lie close to the hot, young stars, they also reflect starlight, forming blue reflection nebulae. In fact, bright variable star S Monocerotis is immersed in a blue-tinted haze near center. Arrayed with a simple triangular outline above S Monocerotis, the stars of NGC 2264 are popularly known as the Christmas Tree star cluster. Carved by energetic starlight, the Cone Nebula sits upside down at the apex of this cosmic Christmas tree while the dusty, convoluted pelt of glowing gas and dust under the tree is called the Fox Fur Nebula. This rich telescopic frame spans about 1.5 degrees or 3 full moons on the sky top to bottom, covering nearly 80 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264.

#APOD #Meteorology #Exploration #Space #SpaceMission

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251225.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 24 December 2025 **Mystery: ...

2025-12-24T05:07:36Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

24 December 2025

**Mystery: Little Red Dots in the Early Universe**

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What are these little red dots (LRDs)? Nobody knows. Discovered only last year, hundreds of LRDs have now been found by the James Webb Space Telescope in the early universe. Although extremely faint, LRDs are now frequently identified in deep observations made for other purposes. A wide-ranging debate is raging about what LRDs may be and what importance they may have. Possible origin hypotheses include accreting supermassive black holes inside clouds of gas and dust, bursts of star formation in young dust-reddened galaxies, and dark matter powered gas clouds. The highlighted images show six nearly featureless LRDs listed under the JWST program that found them, and z, a distance indicator called cosmological redshift. Additionally, searches are underway in our nearby universe to try to find whatever previous LRDs might have become today.

#APOD #PlanetaryScience #Astrophysics #SpaceAdventures #Astroenthusiast

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251224.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 23 December 2025 **Red Sprites ...

2025-12-23T05:06:28Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

23 December 2025

**Red Sprites and Circular Elves Lightning over Italy**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Valter Binotto

What's happening in the sky? Lightning. The most commonly seen type of lightning involves flashes of bright white light between clouds. Over the past 50 years, though, other types of upper-atmospheric lightning have been confirmed, including tentacled red sprites and ringed ELVES. Although both last only a small fraction of a second, sprites are brighter and easier to photograph than their more common electrical-discharge cousins. ELVES are rapidly expanding rings that are thought to be created when an electromagnetic pulse shoots upward from charged clouds and impacts the ionosphere, causing nitrogen molecules to glow. Capturing either form of lightning takes patience and experience -- capturing them both together, since they usually occur separately, is rare. The featured image is a frame from a video recorded from Possagno, Italy late last month above a distant thunderstorm over the Adriatic Sea.

#APOD #PlanetaryScience #Planets #Astrodata #SpaceMission

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251223.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 22 December 2025 **Sunset ...

2025-12-22T05:07:46Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

22 December 2025

**Sunset Solstice over Stonehenge**

Image Credit & Copyright:
English Heritage,
Josh Dury

Yesterday the Sun reached its southernmost point in planet Earth's sky. Called a solstice, many cultures mark yesterday's date as a change of seasons -- from autumn to winter in Earth's Northern Hemisphere and from spring to summer in Earth's Southern Hemisphere. The featured image was taken just before the longest night of the 2025 northern year at Stonehenge in United Kingdom. There, through stones precisely placed 4,500 years ago, a 4.5 billion year old large glowing orb is seen setting. Even given the precession of the Earth's rotational axis over the millennia, the Sun continues to set over Stonehenge in an astronomically significant way.

#APOD #Astrophotography #Exoplanets #SpaceResearch #LunarMission

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251222.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 20 December 2025 **A Solstice ...

2025-12-20T05:05:48Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

20 December 2025

**A Solstice Sun Tattoo**

Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Pace

The word solstice is from the Latin for Sun and to pause or stand still. And in the days surrounding a solstice the Sun's annual north-south drift in planet Earth's sky does slow down, pause, and then reverse direction. So near the solstice the daily path of the Sun through the sky really doesn't change much. In fact, near the December solstice, the Sun's consistent, low arc through northern hemisphere skies, along with low surface temperatures, has left a noticeable imprint on this path to the mountain town of Peaio in northern Italy. The morning frost on the road has melted away only where the sunlight was able to reach the ground. But it remains in the areas persistently shadowed by the fence, tattooing in frost an image of the fence on the asphalt surface.

#APOD #Cosmological #SpaceMission #SpaceTech #PlanetExploration

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251220.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 19 December 2025 **Long Shadows ...

2025-12-19T05:06:51Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

19 December 2025

**Long Shadows of the Montes Caucasus**

Image Credit & Copyright: When the Moon

When the Moon is at its first quarter phase, the Sun rises along the Montes Caucasus as seen from the lunar surface. The lunar mountain range casts the magnificent, spire-like shadows in this telescopic view from planet Earth, looking along the lunar terminator or the boundary between lunar night and day. Named for Earth's own Caucasus Mountains, the rugged lunar Montes Caucasus peaks, up to 6 kilometers high, are located between the smooth Mare Imbrium to the west and Mare Serenitatis to the east. Still mostly in shadow in this first quarter lunarscape, at the left (west) impact craters reflect the light of the rising Sun along their outer, eastern crater walls.

#APOD #Astrophysics #Astrospace #Planetarium #Astrobiology

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251219.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 18 December 2025 **Jupiter and ...

2025-12-18T05:09:26Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

18 December 2025

**Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini**

Image Credit & Copyright: David Cruz

Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant, is the brightest celestial beacon at the center of this composite night skyscape. The scene was constructed by selecting the 40 exposures containing meteors from about 500 exposures made on the nights of December 13 and 14, near peak activity for this year's annual Geminid meteor shower. With each selected exposure registered in the night sky above Alentejo, Portugal, planet Earth, it does look like the meteors are streaming away from Jupiter. But the apparent radiant of the Geminid meteors is actually closer to bright star Castor, in the shower's eponymous constellation Gemini. In this frame that's just a little above and left of the Solar System's most massive planet. Still, the parent body of Geminid meteors is known to be rocky, near-Earth asteroid 3200 Phaethon. And the orbit of Phaethon itself is influenced by the gravitational attraction exerted by massive Jupiter, in concert with planets of the inner Solar System.

#APOD #Astrobiology #SpaceResearch #SpaceResearch #OuterSpace

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251218.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 17 December 2025 **W5: The Soul ...

2025-12-17T05:07:21Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

17 December 2025

**W5: The Soul Nebula**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Jeffrey Horne

Stars are forming in the Soul of the Queen of Aethopia. More specifically, a large star forming region called the Soul Nebula can be found in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia, whom Greek mythology credits as the vain wife of a King who long ago ruled lands surrounding the upper Nile river. Also known as Westerhout 5 (W5), the Soul Nebula houses several open clusters of stars, ridges and pillars darkened by cosmic dust, and huge evacuated bubbles formed by the winds of young massive stars. Located about 6,500 light years away, the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years and is usually imaged next to its celestial neighbor the Heart Nebula (IC 1805). The featured image, taken from near Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a composite of 234 hours of exposures made in different colors: red as emitted by hydrogen gas, yellow as emitted by sulfur, and blue as emitted by oxygen. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

#APOD #Astrozone #SpaceMission #SpaceFacts #RocketScience

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251217.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 16 December 2025 **Andromeda and ...

2025-12-16T05:09:38Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

16 December 2025

**Andromeda and Sprites over Australia**

Image Credit & Copyright:
JJ Rao

What’s happening over that tree? Two very different things. On the left is the Andromeda galaxy, an object that is older than humanity and will last billions of years into the future. Andromeda (M31) is similar in size and shape to our own Milky Way Galaxy. On the right is a red sprite, a type of lightning that lasts a fraction of a second and occurs above violent thunderstorms. Red sprites were verified as real atmospheric phenomena only about 35 years ago. The tree in the center is a boab, which may live for as long as a thousand years. Boab trees grow naturally in Australia and Africa and are known for being able to store large amounts of water: up to 100,000 liters. The featured image was captured last month near Derby in Western Australia.

#APOD #Astroengineer #GalacticAdventures #Astrophoto #SpaceExploration

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251216.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 15 December 2025 **Gemini ...

2025-12-15T05:07:34Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

15 December 2025

**Gemini Meteors over Snow Capped Mountains**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Tomáš Slovinský

Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Gemini. That is why the major meteor shower in December is known as the Geminids -- because shower meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward Gemini. Three dimensionally, however, sand-sized debris expelled from the unusual asteroid 3200 Phaethon follows a well-defined orbit about our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of the constellation of Gemini. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris appears in Gemini. Featured here is a composite of many images taken over the past few days through dark skies from Slovakia and capturing the snow-covered peaks of the Belianske Tatra mountains Numerous bright meteor streaks from the Geminids meteor shower are visible. Orion is visible above the horizon, while the bright star nearest the radiant is Castor. APOD Review: RJN's Night Sky Network Lecture

#APOD #Research #AstronomyLovers #SpaceMissions #Astrodata

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251215.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 14 December 2025 **Juno Flyby of ...

2025-12-14T05:05:30Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

14 December 2025

**Juno Flyby of Ganymede and Jupiter**

https://www.youtube.com/embed/CC7OJ7gFLvE?rel=0

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What would it be like to fly over the largest moon in the Solar System? In 2021, the robotic Juno spacecraft flew past Jupiter's huge moon Ganymede and took images that have been digitally constructed into a detailed flyby. As the featured video begins, Juno swoops over the two-toned surface of the 2,000-km wide moon, revealing an icy alien landscape filled with grooves and craters. The grooves are likely caused by shifting surface plates, while the craters are caused by violent impacts. Continuing on in its orbit, Juno then performed its 34th close pass over Jupiter's clouds. The digitally-constructed video shows numerous swirling clouds in the north, colorful planet-circling zones and bands across the middle -- featuring several white-oval clouds from the String of Pearls, and finally more swirling clouds in the south.

#APOD #AstronomyPhotography #Astrochemistry #AstronomyClub #Astrophotography

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251214.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 13 December 2025 **Orion and the ...

2025-12-13T05:08:43Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

13 December 2025

**Orion and the Ocean of Storms**

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On December 5, 2022, a camera on board the uncrewed Orion spacecraft captured this view as Orion approached its return powered flyby of the Moon. Beyond one of Orion's extended solar arrays lies dark, smooth, terrain along the western edge of the Oceanus Procellarum. Prominent on the lunar nearside Oceanus Procellarum, the Ocean of Storms, is the largest of the Moon's lava-flooded maria. The lunar terminator, the shadow line between lunar night and day, runs along the left of this frame. The 41 kilometer diameter crater Marius is top center, with ray crater Kepler peeking in at the edge, just right of the solar array wing. Kepler's bright rays extend to the north and west, reaching the dark-floored Marius. By December 11, 2022 the Orion spacecraft had returned to its home world. The historic Artemis 1 mission ended with Orion's successful splashdown in planet Earth's water-flooded Pacific Ocean. Watch: The Geminid Meteor Shower

#APOD #Astroinformatics #Astrozone #BlackHoles #Galactic

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251213.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 12 December 2025 **Northern Fox ...

2025-12-12T05:05:58Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

12 December 2025

**Northern Fox Fires**

Image Credit & Copyright: Dennis Lehtonen

In a Finnish myth, when an arctic fox runs so fast that its bushy tail brushes the mountains, flaming sparks are cast into the heavens creating the northern lights. In fact the Finnish word "revontulet", a name for the aurora borealis or northern lights, can be translated as fire fox. So that evocative myth took on a special significance for the photographer of this northern night skyscape from Finnish Lapland near Kilpisjarvi Lake. The snowy scene is illuminated by moonlight. Saana, an iconic fell or mountain of Lapland, rises at the right in the background. But as the beautiful nothern lights danced overhead, the wild fire fox in the foreground enthusiastically ran around the photographer and his equipment, making it difficult to capture in this lucky single shot.

#APOD #GalacticAdventures #MilkyWay #Stars #Astrodata

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251212.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 11 December 2025 **Galaxies in ...

2025-12-11T05:09:07Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

11 December 2025

**Galaxies in the River**

Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander

Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own galaxy engages in a sort of galactic cannibalism, absorbing small galaxies that are too close and are captured by the Milky Way's gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the universe and illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the banks of the southern constellation Eridanus, The River. Located over 50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531, a struggle the smaller galaxy will eventually lose. Seen nearly edge-on, in this sharp image spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years. The NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar to the well-studied system of face-on spiral and small companion known as M51.

#APOD #CosmosJourney #Cosmological #Meteorology #PlanetExploration

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251211.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 10 December 2025 **The Horsehead ...

2025-12-10T05:07:17Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

10 December 2025

**The Horsehead Nebula**

Image Credit & Copyright: George Chatzifrantzis

Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, this dusty interstellar molecular cloud has by chance has assumed an immediately recognizable shape. Fittingly known as The Horsehead Nebula, it lies some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud complex. About five light-years "tall," the dark cloud is cataloged as Barnard 33, first identified on a photographic plate taken in the late 19th century. B33 is visible primarily because its obscuring dust is silhouetted against the glow of emission nebula IC 434. Hubble space telescope images from the early 21st century find young stars forming within B33. Of course, the magnificent interstellar cloud will slowly shift its apparent shape over the next few million years. But for now the Horsehead Nebula is a rewarding though difficult object to view with small telescopes from planet Earth.

#APOD #StarCluster #SpaceTechnology #Astrophotography #Stargazing

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251210.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 09 December 2025 **The Heart of ...

2025-12-09T05:09:28Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

09 December 2025

**The Heart of the Soul Nebula**

Image Credit & Copyright:
Nicola Bugin

This cosmic close-up looks deep inside the Soul Nebula. The dark and brooding dust clouds outlined by bright ridges of glowing gas are cataloged as IC 1871. About 25 light-years across, the telescopic field of view spans only a small part of the much larger Heart and Soul nebulae. At an estimated distance of 6,500 light-years, the star-forming complex lies within the Perseus spiral arm of the Milky Way, seen in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation of the Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia). An example of triggered star formation, the dense star-forming clouds of IC 1871 are themselves sculpted by the intense winds and radiation of the region's massive young stars. This color image adopts a palette made popular in Hubble images of star-forming regions.

#APOD #Exoplanets #Astronauts #GalaxyExploration #Astrophoto

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251209.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 08 December 2025 **Flying Over ...

2025-12-08T05:08:02Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

08 December 2025

**Flying Over the Earth at Night**

https://www.youtube.com/embed/FG0fTKAqZ5g?rel=0

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Many wonders are visible when flying over the Earth at night. Such visual spectacles occur every day for astronauts in low Earth orbit, but the featured video captured several from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2011 and set them to rousing music. Passing below are white clouds, orange city lights, lightning flashes in thunderstorms, and dark blue seas. On the horizon is the golden haze of Earth's thin atmosphere, frequently decorated by dancing auroras as the video progresses. The green parts of auroras typically remain below the space station, but the station flies right through the red and purple auroral peaks. Solar panels of the ISS are seen around the frame edges. The ominous wave of approaching brightness at the end of each sequence is just the dawn of the sunlit half of Earth, a dawn that occurs every 90 minutes. Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: This Wednesday (December 10) at 7 pm

#APOD #AstronomyClub #Cosmological #Research #Astrozone

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251208.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 07 December 2025 **The Sun and ...

2025-12-07T05:07:10Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

07 December 2025

**The Sun and Its Missing Colors**

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It is still not known why the Sun's light is missing some colors. Here are all the visible colors of the Sun, produced by passing the Sun's light through a prism-like device. The spectrum was created at the McMath-Pierce Solar Observatory and shows, first off, that although our white-appearing Sun emits light of nearly every color, it appears brightest in yellow-green light. The dark patches in the featured spectrum arise from gas at or above the Sun's surface absorbing sunlight emitted below. Since different types of gas absorb different colors of light, it is possible to determine what gasses compose the Sun. Helium, for example, was first discovered in 1868 on a solar spectrum and only later found here on Earth. Today, the majority of spectral absorption lines have been identified - but not all. Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm

#APOD #SpaceObservatory #Astroengineering #AstronomyFacts #Research

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251207.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day 06 December 2025 **Apollo 17 at ...

2025-12-06T05:08:25Z

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**

06 December 2025

**Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater**

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Fifty three years ago, in December of 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on the Moon exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley, while colleague Ronald Evans orbited overhead. This snapshot from another world was taken by Cernan as he and Schmitt roamed the lunar valley's floor. The image shows Schmitt next to the lunar rover parked at the southeast rim of Shorty Crater. That location is near the spot where geologist Schmitt discovered orange lunar soil. The Apollo 17 crew returned with 110 kilograms of rock and soil samples, more than was returned from any of the other lunar landing sites. And for now, Cernan and Schmitt are the last to walk on the Moon.

#APOD #Astronomy #SpaceExploration #SpaceWeather #SpaceExploration

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251206.html

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**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 18 February 2026 **Orion's ...

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**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 31 January 2026 **NGC 1333: ...

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