Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 9
A dawn sky is shown that is black at the top and brown near the
horizon. Wispy clouds converge on the right turning from a white to a
blue hue. Near the apex of this convergence is a crescent moon. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Noctilucent Clouds over Florida
Credit & Copyright: Pascal Fouquet

Explanation: These clouds are doubly unusual. First, they are rare
noctilucent clouds, meaning that they are visible at night -- but only
just before sunrise or just after sunset. Second, the source of these
noctilucent clouds is actually known. In this rare case, the source of
the sunlight-reflecting ice-crystals in the upper atmosphere can be
traced back to the launch of a nearby SpaceX rocket about 30 minutes
earlier. Known more formally as polar mesospheric clouds, the vertex of
these icy wisps happens to converge just in front of a rising crescent
Moon. The featured image -- and accompanying video -- were captured
over Orlando, Florida, USA about a week ago. The bright spot to the
right of the Moon is the planet Jupiter, while the dotted lights above
the horizon on the right are from an airplane.

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 10

A Sagittarius Triplet
Image Credit & Copyright: Andy Ermolli

Explanation: These three bright nebulae are often featured on
telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded
starfields of the central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic
tourist Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula
above center, and colorful M20 below and left in the frame. The third
emission region includes NGC 6559, right of M8 and separated from the
larger nebula by a dark dust lane. All three are stellar nurseries
about five thousand light-years or so distant. Over a hundred
light-years across the expansive M8 is also known as the Lagoon Nebula.
M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the
dominant red color of the emission nebulae. But for striking contrast,
blue hues in the Trifid are due to dust reflected starlight. The broad
interstellar skyscape spans almost 4 degrees or 8 full moons on the
sky.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 11

Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
Image Credit & Copyright: Juergen Stein

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

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 12

Jones-Emberson 1
Image Credit & Copyright: Team OURANOS,
(Jean-Baptiste Auroux, Jean Claude Mario, Mathieu Guinot & Matthieu
Tequi)

Explanation: Planetary nebula Jones-Emberson 1 is the death shroud of a
dying Sun-like star. It lies some 1,600 light-years from Earth toward
the sharp-eyed constellation Lynx. About 4 light-years across, the
expanding remnant of the dying star's atmosphere was shrugged off into
interstellar space, as the star's central supply of hydrogen and then
helium for fusion was depleted after billions of years. Visible near
the center of the planetary nebula is what remains of the stellar core,
a blue-hot white dwarf star. Also known as PK 164 +31.1, the nebula is
faint and very difficult to glimpse at a telescope's eyepiece. But this
deep image combining over 12 hours of exposure time does show it off in
exceptional detail. Stars within our own Milky Way galaxy as well as
background galaxies across the universe are scattered through the clear
field of view. Ephemeral on the cosmic stage, Jones-Emberson 1 will
fade away over the next few thousand years. Its hot, central white
dwarf star will take billions of years to cool.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 13

Solar System Family Portrait
Image Credit: Voyager Project, NASA

Explanation: In 1990, cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the
Voyager 1 spacecraft looked back to make this first ever Solar System
family portrait. The complete portrait is a 60 frame mosaic made from a
vantage point 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane. In it, Voyager's
wide-angle camera frames sweep through the inner Solar System at the
left, linking up with ice giant Neptune, the Solar System's outermost
planet, at the far right. Positions for Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune are indicated by letters, while the Sun is the
bright spot near the center of the circle of frames. The inset frames
for each of the planets are from Voyager's narrow-field camera. Unseen
in the portrait are Mercury, too close to the Sun to be detected, and
Mars, unfortunately hidden by sunlight scattered in the camera's
optical system. Closer to the Sun than Neptune at the time, small,
faint Pluto's position was not covered. In 2024 Voyager 1, NASACÇÖs
longest-running and most-distant spacecraft, is some 15 billion miles
away, operating in interstellar space.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 14
A distant spiral galaxy is seen in the image center. A multi-colored
streak runs diagonally across the image from the upper left to the
lower right. Parts of this streak have gas near it. The background is
dark field filled with stars. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Meteor Misses Galaxy
Credit & Copyright: Aman Chokshi

Explanation: The galaxy was never in danger. For one thing, the
Triangulum galaxy (M33), pictured, is much bigger than the tiny grain
of rock at the head of the meteor. For another, the galaxy is much
farther away -- in this instance 3 million light years as opposed to
only about 0.0003 light seconds. Even so, the meteor's path took it
angularly below the galaxy. Also the wind high in Earth's atmosphere
blew the meteor's glowing evaporative molecule train away from the
galaxy, in angular projection. Still, the astrophotographer was quite
lucky to capture both a meteor and a galaxy in a single exposure --
which was subsequently added to two other images of M33 to bring up the
spiral galaxy's colors. At the end, the meteor was gone in a second,
but the galaxy will last billions of years.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 15
A spiral galaxy is shown on the upper left with a really long tail of
stars and blue-glowing gas trailing to the lower left. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

The Tadpole Galaxy from Hubble
Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, ESA, NASA; Processing:
Harshwardhan Pathak

Explanation: Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this
stunning vista, based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive,
distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy
Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic tadpole is a mere 420 million
light-years distant toward the northern constellation of the Dragon
(Draco). Its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long
and features massive, bright blue star clusters. One story goes that a
more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188 - from right
to left in this view - and was slung around behind the Tadpole by their
gravitational attraction. During the close encounter, tidal forces drew
out the spiral galaxy's stars, gas, and dust forming the spectacular
tail. The intruder galaxy itself, estimated to lie about 300 thousand
light-years behind the Tadpole, can be seen through foreground spiral
arms at the upper right. Following its terrestrial namesake, the
Tadpole Galaxy will likely lose its tail as it grows older, the tail's
star clusters forming smaller satellites of the large spiral galaxy.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 16
A starfield is shown featuring many pillars of interstellar gas and
dust, mostly in the center. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Cometary Globules
Image Credit & Copyright: Mark Hanson & Martin Pugh, Observatorio El
Sauce

Explanation: What are these unusual interstellar structures?
Bright-rimmed, flowing shapes gather near the center of this rich
starfield toward the borders of the nautical southern constellations
Pupis and Vela. Composed of interstellar gas and dust, the grouping of
light-year sized cometary globules is about 1300 light-years distant.
Energetic ultraviolet light from nearby hot stars has molded the
globules and ionized their bright rims. The globules also stream away
from the Vela supernova remnant which may have influenced their
swept-back shapes. Within them, cores of cold gas and dust are likely
collapsing to form low mass stars, whose formation will ultimately
cause the globules to disperse. In fact, cometary globule CG 30 (on the
upper left) sports a small reddish glow near its head, a telltale sign
of energetic jets from a star in the early stages of formation.

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 17

Villarrica Volcano Against the Sky
Video Credit & Copyright: Gabriel Mu+#oz; Text: Natalia Lewandowska
(SUNY Oswego)

Explanation: When Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, swings his
blacksmith's hammer, the sky is lit on fire. A recent eruption of
Chile's Villarrica volcano shows the delicate interplay between this
fire -- actually glowing steam and ash from melted rock -- and the
light from distant stars in our Milky Way galaxy and the Magellanic
Clouds galaxies. In the featured timelapse video, the Earth rotates
under the stars as Villarrica erupts. With about 1350 volcanoes, our
planet Earth rivals Jupiter's moon Io as the most geologically active
place in the Solar System. While both have magnificent beauty, the
reasons for the existence of volcanoes on both worlds are different.
Earth's volcanoes typically occur between slowly shifting outer shell
plates, while Io's volcanoes are caused by gravitational flexing
resulting from Jupiter's tidal gravitational pull.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 18

Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Freeburn

Explanation: Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of
deep sky objects, M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula.
It's a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows a
view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky
Way galaxy. Direct your gaze through this gap with binoculars or small
telescope and you are looking through a window over 300 light-years
wide at stars some 10,000 light-years or more from Earth. Sometimes
called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24's luminous stars are left
of center in this gorgeous starscape. Covering over 6 degrees or the
width of 12 full moons in the constellation Sagittarius, the telescopic
field of view includes dark markings B92 and B93 near the center of
M24, along with other clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the
center of the Milky Way.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 19

Anticrepuscular Rays at the Planet Festival
Image Credit & Copyright: Pavel Gabzdyl

Explanation: For some, these subtle bands of light and shadow stretched
across the sky as the Sun set on July 11. Known as anticrepuscular
rays, the bands are formed as a large cloud bank near the western
horizon cast long shadows through the atmosphere at sunset. Due to the
camera's perspective, the bands of light and shadow seem to converge
toward the eastern (opposite) horizon at a point seen just above a 14th
century hilltop castle near Brno, Czech Republic. In the foreground,
denizens of planet Earth are enjoying the region's annual Planet
Festival in the park below the Brno Observatory and Planetarium. And
while crepuscular and anticrepuscular rays are a relatively common
atmospheric phenomenon, this festival's 10 meter diameter inflatable
spheres representing bodies of the Solar System are less often seen on
planet Earth.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 20

Apollo 11 Landing Panorama
Image Credit: Neil Armstrong, Apollo 11, NASA

Explanation: Have you seen a panorama from another world lately?
Assembled from high-resolution scans of the original film frames, this
one sweeps across the magnificent desolation of the Apollo 11 landing
site on the Moon's Sea of Tranquility. The images were taken 55 years
ago by Neil Armstrong looking out his window on the Eagle Lunar Module
shortly after the July 20, 1969 landing. The frame at the far left
(AS11-37-5449) is the first picture taken by a person on another world.
Thruster nozzles can be seen in the foreground on the left (toward the
south), while at the right (west), the shadow of the Eagle is visible.
For scale, the large, shallow crater on the right has a diameter of
about 12 meters. Frames taken from the Lunar Module windows about an
hour and a half after landing, before walking on the lunar surface,
were intended to document the landing site in case an early departure
was necessary.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 21
The band of the Milky Way runs across a night sky filled with stars.
Colorful clouds are on the right horizon. A strange rock structure
appears in the image center with a base and an extended arm that seems
to point to the colorful horizon. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Wayne Pinkston (LightCrafter Photography)

Explanation: This rock structure is not only surreal -- it's real.
Perhaps the reason it's not more famous is that it is smaller than one
might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so,
the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating
example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos
may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer
rock. Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a
night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably
picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to
be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the
background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured
here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the
background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching
overhead.

Tomorrow's picture: find the galaxy
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 22
The featured image shows a dark nebula complex involving thick dust
appearing brown and making a big

Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
Image Credit & Copyright: Chang Lee

Explanation: Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an
angular elegance. Such is the case toward the far-south constellation
of Chamaeleon. Normally too faint to see, dark dust is best known for
blocking visible light from stars and galaxies behind it. In this
36.6-hour exposure, however, the dust is seen mostly in light of its
own, with its strong red and near-infrared colors creating a brown hue.
Contrastingly blue, the bright star Beta Chamaeleontis is visible on
the upper right, with the dust that surrounds it preferentially
reflecting blue light from its primarily blue-white color. All of the
pictured stars and dust occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy with one
notable exception: the white spot just below Beta Chamaeleontis is the
galaxy IC 3104 which lies far in the distance. Interstellar dust is
mostly created in the cool atmospheres of giant stars and dispersed
into space by stellar light, stellar winds, and stellar explosions such
as supernovas.

Tomorrow's picture: Chandra Crab (25)
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 23
A multi-colored nebula is shown that is the expanding remnant of an
exploded star. The central white and purple colors show X-ray light,
while the outer red and blue colors show visible light. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

The Crab Nebula from Visible to X-Ray
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, ASI, Hubble, Chandra, IXPE

Explanation: What powers the Crab Nebula? A city-sized magnetized
neutron star spinning around 30 times a second. Known as the Crab
Pulsar, it is the bright spot in the center of the gaseous swirl at the
nebula's core. About 10 light-years across, the spectacular picture of
the Crab Nebula (M1) frames a swirling central disk and complex
filaments of surrounding and expanding glowing gas. The picture
combines visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope in red and blue
with X-ray light from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shown in white, and
diffuse X-ray emission detected by Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer
(IXPE) in diffuse purple. The central pulsar powers the Crab Nebula's
emission and expansion by slightly slowing its spin rate, which drives
out a wind of energetic electrons. The featured image released today,
the 25th Anniversary of the launch of NASA's flagship-class X-ray
Observatory: Chandra.

Many Discoveries: Chandra Celebrates 25th Anniversary
Tomorrow's picture: spikey moon
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 24
Earth's Moon is shown with the heights of surface features all greatly
exaggerated. Also, the colors of the Moon have been exaggerated so
areas of blue and red are more easily seen. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

Exaggerated Moon
Credit: Data: NASA, Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter; Image & Processing:
Ildar Ibatullin

Explanation: Our Moon doesn't really have craters this big. Earth's
Moon, Luna, also doesn't naturally show this spikey texture, and its
colors are more subtle. But this digital creation is based on reality.
The featured image is a digital composite of a good Moon image and
surface height data taken from NASA's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter
(LOLA) mission -- and then exaggerated for educational understanding.
The digital enhancements, for example, accentuate lunar highlands and
show more clearly craters that illustrate the tremendous bombardment
our Moon has been through during its 4.6-billion-year history. The dark
areas, called maria, have fewer craters and were once seas of molten
lava. Additionally, the image colors, although based on the moon's real
composition, are changed and exaggerated. Here, a blue hue indicates a
region that is iron rich, while orange indicates a slight excess of
aluminum. Although the Moon has shown the same side to the Earth for
billions of years, modern technology is allowing humanity to learn much
more about it -- and how it affects the Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 25

NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Shepherd

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.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 July 26

Facing NGC 6946
Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni

Explanation: From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC
6946 face-on. The big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 20
million light-years away, behind a veil of foreground dust and stars in
the high and far-off constellation Cepheus. In this sharp telescopic
portrait, from the core outward the galaxy's colors change from the
yellowish light of old stars in the center to young blue star clusters
and reddish star forming regions along the loose, fragmented spiral
arms. NGC 6946 is also bright in infrared light and rich in gas and
dust, exhibiting a high star birth and death rate. In fact, since the
early 20th century ten confirmed supernovae, the death explosions of
massive stars, were discovered in NGC 6946. Nearly 40,000 light-years
across, NGC 6946 is also known as the Fireworks Galaxy.

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

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

2024 July 27

Saturn at the Moon's Edge
Image Credit & Copyright: Chengcheng Xu

Explanation: Saturn now rises before midnight in planet Earth's sky. On
July 24, the naked-eye planet was in close conjunction, close on the
sky, to a waning gibbous Moon. But from some locations on planet Earth
the ringed gas giant was occulted, disappearing behind the Moon for
about an hour from skies over parts of Asia and Africa. Because the
Moon and bright planets wander through the sky near the ecliptic plane,
such occultation events are not uncommon, but they can be dramatic. In
this telescopic view from Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, Saturn is caught
moments before its disappearance behind the lunar disk. The snapshot
gives the illusion that Saturn hangs just above Glushko crater, a 43
kilometer diameter, young, ray crater near the Moon's western edge. Of
course, the Moon is 400 thousand kilometers away, compared to Saturn's
distance of 1.4 billion kilometers.

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

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2024 July 28

Sun Dance
Video Credit: NASA, SDO; Processing: Alan Watson via Helioviewer

Explanation: Sometimes, the surface of our Sun seems to dance. In the
middle of 2012, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic
Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence that seemed to
perform a running dive roll like an acrobatic dancer. The dramatic
explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the featured time-lapse
video covering about three hours. A looping magnetic field directed the
flow of hot plasma on the Sun. The scale of the dancing prominence is
huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing arch of hot
gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month and may erupt
in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), expelling hot gas into the Solar
System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a
topic of research. Like in 2012, this year the Sun's surface is again
quite active and features many filaments and prominences.

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

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2024 July 29
A starry sky is shown with the busy central band of our Milky Way
Galaxy showing rising diagonally from the lower right. In the
foreground are flat grasslands leading up to a huge orange rock mound
named Uluru. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way over Uluru
Image Credit & Copyright: Max Inwood

Explanation: What's happening above Uluru? A United Nations World
Heritage Site, Uluru is an extraordinary 350-meter high mountain in
central Australia that rises sharply from nearly flat surroundings.
Composed of sandstone, Uluru has slowly formed over the past 300
million years as softer rock eroded away. The Uluru region has been a
home to humans for over 22,000 years. Recorded last month, the starry
sky above Uluru includes the central band of our Milky Way galaxy,
complete with complex dark filaments of dust, bright red emission
nebulas, and billions of stars.

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

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2024 July 30
Two large interacting galaxies are shown. The upper galaxy, has
significant internal structure and is curved over the lower galaxy
which is a featureless oval. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Arp 142: Interacting Galaxies from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Hubble Rollover Reprocessing &
Copyright: Raul Villaverde

Explanation: To some, it looks like a penguin. But to people who study
the universe, it is an interesting example of two big galaxies
interacting. Just a few hundred million years ago, the upper NGC 2936
was likely a normal spiral galaxy: spinning, creating stars, and
minding its own business. Then it got too close to the massive
elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, below, and took a dive. Together known as
Arp 142, they are featured in this new Webb infrared image, while a
visible light Hubble image appears in comparison. NGC 2936 is not only
being deflected, but distorted, by this close gravitational
interaction. When massive galaxies pass near each other, gas is
typically condensed from which new stars form. A young group of stars
appears as the nose of the penguin toward the right of the upper
galaxy, while in the center of the spiral, bright stars together appear
as an eye. Before a billion years, the two galaxies will likely merge
into one larger galaxy.

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

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2024 July 31
Part of a large rock on Mars is shown being mostly orange. On the rock
are several irregular light-colored areas surrounded by a dark border.
The spots are only millimeters across but might carry big implications.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Leopard Spots on Martian Rocks
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, Perseverance Rover

Explanation: What is creating these unusual spots? Light-colored spots
on Martian rocks, each surrounded by a dark border, were discovered
earlier this month by NASA's Perseverance Rover currently exploring
Mars. Dubbed leopard spots because of their seemingly similarity to
markings on famous Earth-bound predators, these curious patterns are
being studied with the possibility they were created by ancient Martian
life. The pictured spots measure only millimeters across and were
discovered on a larger rock named Cheyava Falls. The exciting but
unproven speculation is that long ago, microbes generated energy with
chemical reactions that turned rock from red to white while leaving a
dark ring, like some similarly appearing spots on Earth rocks. Although
other non-biological explanations may ultimately prevail, speculation
focusing on this potential biological origin is causing much intrigue.

New Mirror: APOD is now available from Brazil in Portuguese
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 1

Comet Olbers over Kunetice Castle
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Hor+ílek / Institute of Physics in Opava

Explanation: A visitor to the inner solar system every 70 years or so
Comet 13P/Olbers reached its most recent perihelion, or closest
approach to the Sun, on June 30 2024. Now on a return voyage to the
distant Oort cloud the Halley-type comet is recorded here sweeping
through northern summer night skies over historic Kunetice Castle,
Czech Republic. Along with a broad dust tail, and brighter coma, this
comet's long ion tail buffeted by storms and winds from the Sun, is
revealed in the composite of tracked exposures for comet and sky, and
fixed exposures for foreground landscape recorded on July 28. The comet
is about 16 light-minutes beyond the castle and seen against faint
background stars below the northern constellation Ursa Major. The
hilltop castle dates to the 15th century, while Heinrich Olbers
discovered the comet in 1815. Captured here low in northwestern skies
just after sunset Comet Olbers, for now, offers skywatchers on planet
Earth rewarding telescopic and binocular views. Comet 13P/Olbers next
perihelion passage will be in 2094.

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

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2024 August 2

Mars Passing By
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)

Explanation: As Mars wanders through Earth's night, it passes about 5
degrees south of the Pleiades star cluster in this composite
astrophoto. The skyview was constructed from a series of images
captured over a run of 16 consecutive clear nights beginning on July
12. Mars' march across the field of view begins at the far right, the
planet's ruddy hue. showing a nice contrast with the blue Pleiades
stars. Moving much faster across the sky against the distant stars, the
fourth planet from the Sun easily passes seventh planet Uranus, also
moving across this field of view. Red planet Mars and the ice giant
world were in close conjunction, about 1/2 degree apart, on July 16.
Continuing its rapid eastward trek, Mars has now left the sister stars
and outer planet behind though, passing north of red giant star
Aldebaran. Mars will come within about 1/3 degree of Jupiter in planet
Earth's sky on August 14.

Tomorrow's picture: road trip
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 3

Glory and Fog Bow
Image and Video Credit & Copyright: Cem +ûzkeser and Yasin -#lcebay

Explanation: On a road trip up Mount Uluda-f in Bursa province, Turkey
these motorcyclists found themselves above low clouds and fog in late
June. With the bright Sun directly behind them, the view down the side
of the great mountain revealed a beautiful, atmospheric glory and fog
bow. Known to some as the heiligenschein or the Specter of the Brocken,
a glory can also sometimes be seen from airplanes or even high
buildings. It often appears to be a dark giant surrounded by a bright
halo. Of course the dark giant is just the shadow of the observer (90MB
video) cast opposite the Sun. The clouds and fog are composed of very
small water droplets, smaller than rain drops, that refract and reflect
sunlight to create the glory's colorful halo and this more extensive
fog bow.

Tomorrow's picture: Here comes the Sun
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 4

Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
Credit: Galaxy Illustration: N. Risinger (skysurvey.org);
Star Data: Gaia Mission, ESA, A. S. Sell+¬s (U. Heidelberg) et al.

Explanation: What would it look like to return home from outside our
galaxy? Although designed to answer greater questions, data from ESA's
robotic Gaia mission is helping to provide a uniquely modern
perspective on humanity's place in the universe. Gaia orbits the Sun
near the Earth and resolves stars' positions so precisely that it can
determine a slight shift from its changing vantage point over the
course of a year, a shift that is proportionately smaller for more
distant stars -- and so determines distance. In the first sequence of
the video, an illustration of the Milky Way is shown that soon resolves
into a three-dimensional visualization of Gaia star data. A few notable
stars are labelled with their common names, while others stars are
labelled with numbers from a Gaia catalog. Eventually, the viewer
arrives in our stellar neighborhood where many stars were tracked by
Gaia, and soon at our home star Sol, the Sun. At the video's end, the
reflective glow of Sol's third planet becomes visible: Earth.

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

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2024 August 5
A starry sky is seen above a structure with an iconic dome. A person in
shadow stands at the entrance. Sloping down in the sky is the central
band of our Milky Way Galaxy. Just below the Milky Way is the streak of
a bright meteor. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Milky Way Over Tunisia
Image Credit & Copyright: Makrem Larnaout

Explanation: That's no moon. On the ground, that's the Lars Homestead
in Tunisia. And that's not just any galaxy. That's the central band of
our own Milky Way galaxy. Last, that's not just any meteor. It is a
bright fireball likely from last year's Perseids meteor shower. The
featured image composite combines consecutive exposures taken by the
same camera from the same location. This year's Perseids peak during
the coming weekend is expected to show the most meteors after the first
quarter moon sets, near midnight. To best experience a meteor shower,
you should have clear and dark skies, a comfortable seat, and patience.

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

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2024 August 6
A large storm cloud is pictured hovering over a flat landscape with
telephone poles. The background sky is blue. The cloud appears orange
at the bottom, yellow at the top, white in the middle, with dark gray
overtones all around. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Storm Cloud Over Texas
Image Credit & Copyright: Laura Rowe (Used with permission)

Explanation: What makes this storm cloud so colorful? First, the cloud
itself is composed of millions of tiny droplets of water and ice. Its
bottom is almost completely flat -- but this isn't unusual. Bottom
flatness in clouds is generally caused by air temperature dropping as
you go up, and that above a specific height, water-saturated air
condenses out water droplets. The shape of the cloud middle is caused
by a water-droplet-laden column of air being blown upward. Most
unusual, though, are the orange and yellow colors. Both colors are
caused by the cloud's water drops reflecting sunlight. The orange color
in the cloud's middle and bottom sections are reflections of a nearly
red sunset. In contrast, the yellow color of the cloud's top results
from reflection of light from a not-yet-setting Sun, where some -- but
less -- blue light is being scattered away. Appearing to float above
the plains in Texas, the featured impressive image of a dynamic
cumulonimbus cloud was captured in 2021 while investigating a tornado.

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

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2024 August 7
A starry sky is seen through a rectangular rock opening. Three rocky
peaks appear toward the right, while other peaks appear toward the
left. Rising above the right peaks is the central band of our Milky Way
Galaxy. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Milky Way Behind Three Merlons
Image Credit & Copyright: Donato Lioce; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY
Oswego)

Explanation: To some, they look like battlements, here protecting us
against the center of the Milky Way. The Three Merlons, also called the
Three Peaks of Lavaredo, stand tall today because they are made of
dense dolomite rock which has better resisted erosion than surrounding
softer rock. They formed about 250 million years ago and so are
comparable in age with one of the great extinctions of life on Earth. A
leading hypothesis is that this great extinction was triggered by an
asteroid about 10-km across, larger in size than Mount Everest,
impacting the Earth. Humans have gazed up at the stars in the Milky Way
and beyond for centuries, making these battlefield-like formations,
based in the Sexten Dolomites, a popular place for current and ancient
astronomers.

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

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2024 August 8

Periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle
Image Credit & Copyright: Gerald Rhemann

Explanation: A Halley-type comet with an orbital period of about 133
years, Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle is recognized as the parent of the
annual Perseid Meteor Shower. The comet's last visit to the inner Solar
System was in 1992. Then, it did not become easily visible to the naked
eye, but it did become bright enough to see from most locations with
binoculars and small telescopes. This stunning color image of
Swift-Tuttle's greenish coma, long ion tail and dust tail was recorded
using film on November 24, 1992. That was about 16 days after the large
periodic comet's closest approach to Earth. Comet Swift-Tuttle is
expected to next make an impressive appearance in night skies in 2126.
Meanwhile, dusty cometary debris left along the orbit of Swift-Tuttle
will continue to be swept up creating planet Earth's best-known July
and August meteor shower.

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

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2024 August 9

A Perseid Below
Image Credit: Ron Garan, ISS Expedition 28 Crew, NASA

Explanation: Denizens of planet Earth typically watch meteor showers by
looking up. But this remarkable view, captured on August 13, 2011 by
astronaut Ron Garan, caught a Perseid meteor by looking down. From
Garan's perspective on board the International Space Station orbiting
at an altitude of about 380 kilometers, the Perseid meteors streak
below, swept up dust from comet Swift-Tuttle. The vaporizing comet dust
grains are traveling at about 60 kilometers per second through the
denser atmosphere around 100 kilometers above Earth's surface. In this
case, the foreshortened meteor flash is near frame center, below the
curving limb of the Earth and a layer of greenish airglow, just below
bright star Arcturus. Want to look up at a meteor shower? You're in
luck, as the 2024 Perseid meteor shower is active now and predicted to
peak near August 12. With interfering bright moonlight absent, this
year you'll likely see many Perseid meteors under clear, dark skies
after midnight.

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

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2024 August 10

The Light, Dark, and Dusty Trifid
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Edelmaier and Gabriele Gegenbauer

Explanation: Messier 20, popularly known as the Trifid Nebula, lies
about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation
Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the
Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae;
red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue
reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark
nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. The reddish
emission region, roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust
lanes, is what lends the Trifid its popular name. The cosmic cloud
complex is over 40 light-years across and would cover the area of a
full moon on planet Earth's sky. But the Trifid Nebula is too faint to
be seen by the unaided eye. Over 75 hours of image data captured under
dark night skies was used to create this stunning telescopic view.

Watch: The Perseid Meteor Shower
Tomorrow's picture: animation in space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 August 12
A night sky filled with stars and the band of our Milky Way galaxy is
shown also filled with many streaks. The short streaks are all
coordinated and together indicate a flow from the top of the image to
the bottom. In the foreground at the bottom of the frame is Stonehenge.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge
Image Credit & Copyright: Josh Dury

Explanation: What's happening in the sky above Stonehenge? A meteor
shower: specifically, the Perseid meteor shower. A few nights ago,
after the sky darkened, many images of meteors from this year's
Perseids were captured separately and merged into a single frame.
Although the meteors all traveled on straight paths, these paths appear
slightly curved by the wide-angle lens of the capturing camera. The
meteor streaks can all be traced back to a single point on the sky
called the radiant, here just off the top of the frame in the
constellation of Perseus. The same camera took a deep image of the
background sky that brought up the central band of our Milky Way galaxy
running nearly vertical through the image center. The featured image
was taken from Wiltshire, England, being careful to include, at the
bottom, the famous astronomical monument of Stonehenge. Although the
Perseids peaked last night, some Perseid meteors should still be
visible for a few more nights.

Tomorrow's picture: big sky jet
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 13
The edge of the Earth is seen from space at night. The curving horizon
is tinted green but a red and blue jet rises from left. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Giant Jet from the International Space Station
Image Credit: NASA, Expedition 71 Crew, JSC, ESRS, Matthew Dominick;
Processing: Simeon Schmau+f

Explanation: What's that on the horizon? When circling the Earth on the
International Space Station early last month, astronaut Matthew
Dominick saw an unusual type of lightning just beyond the Earth's edge:
a gigantic jet. The powerful jet appears on the left of the featured
image in red and blue. Giant jet lightning has only been known about
for the past 23 years. The atmospheric jets are associated with
thunderstorms and extend upwards towards Earth's ionosphere. The lower
part of the frame shows the Earth at night, with Earth's thin
atmosphere tinted green from airglow. City lights are visible,
sometimes resolved, but usually creating diffuse white glows in
intervening clouds. The top of the frame reveals distant stars in the
dark night sky. The nature of gigantic jets and their possible
association with other types of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such
as blue jets and red sprites remains an active topic of research.

Growing Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
Tomorrow's picture: star factory
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 August 14
A night sky filled with stars is colored partly purple by an aurora.
Also visible are several streaks which are meteors in this image
composite. In the foreground is a field and lone tree. Part of the tree
slants at the nearly the same angle of the meteor streaks. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Meteors and Aurora over Germany
Image Credit & Copyright: Chantal Anders

Explanation: This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of
August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the
annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Therefore, meteors streaked across the
dark night as small bits cast off from Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing
into the Earth's atmosphere. Even more unusually, for central Germany
at least, the night sky glowed purple. The red-blue hue was due to
aurora caused by an explosion of particles from the Sun a few days
before. This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south
as Texas and Italy, in Earth's northern hemisphere. The featured image
composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from Ense,
Germany. The Perseids occur predictably every August, but auroras
visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable.

Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 August 15

Late Night Vallentuna
Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hed+¬n (Clear Skies, TWAN)

Explanation: Bright Mars and even brighter Jupiter are in close
conjunction just above the pine trees in this post-midnight skyscape
from Vallentuna, Sweden. Taken on August 12 during a geomagnetic storm,
the snapshot records the glow of aurora borealis or northern lights,
beaming from the left side of the frame. Of course on that date Perseid
meteors rained through planet Earth's skies, grains of dust from the
shower's parent, periodic comet Swift-Tuttle. The meteor streak at the
upper right is a Perseid plowing through the atmosphere at about 60
kilometers per second. Also well-known in in Earth's night sky, the
bright Pleides star cluster shines below the Perseid meteor streak. In
Greek myth, the Pleiades were seven daughters of the astronomical titan
Atlas and sea-nymph Pleione. The Pleiades and their parents' names are
given to the cluster's nine brightest stars.

Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
Tomorrow's picture: meteor borealis
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 16

Meteor Borealis
Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Dain

Explanation: A single exposure made with a camera pointed almost due
north on August 12 recorded this bright Perseid meteor in the night sky
west of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The meteor's incandescent trace
is fleeting. It appears to cross the stars of the Big Dipper, famous
northern asterism and celestial kitchen utensil, while shimmering
curtains of aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, dance
in the night. Doubling the wow factor for night skywatchers near the
peak of this year's Perseid meteor shower auroral activity on planet
Earth was enhanced by geomagnetic storms. The intense space weather was
triggered by flares from an active Sun.

Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
Tomorrow's picture: meteor borealis
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 17

Sky Full of Arcs
Image Credit & Copyright: Rory Gannaway

Explanation: On August 11 a Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched from a
rotating planet. With a small satellite on board its mission was dubbed
A Sky Full of SARs
(Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites), departing for low Earth orbit
from Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand's north island. The fiery trace of
the Electron's graceful launch arc is toward the east in this southern
sea and skyscape, a composite of 50 consecutive frames taken over 2.5
hours. Fixed to a tripod, the camera was pointing directly at the South
Celestial Pole, the extension of planet Earth's axis of rotation in to
space. But no bright star marks that location in the southern
hemisphere's night sky. Still, the South Celestial Pole is easy to
spot. It lies at the center of the concentric star trail arcs that fill
the skyward field of view.

Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
Tomorrow's picture: sunny day
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 18

A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO AIA Team

Explanation: One of the most spectacular solar sights is an erupting
prominence. In 2011, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory
spacecraft imaged an impressively large prominence erupting from the
surface. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in
the featured time lapse video covering 90 minutes, where a new frame
was taken every 24 seconds. The scale of the prominence is huge -- the
entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas. A
solar prominence is channeled and sometimes held above the Sun's
surface by the Sun's magnetic field. A quiescent prominence typically
lasts about a month and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)
expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that
creates a solar prominence is a continuing topic of research. Our Sun
is again near solar maximum and so very active, featuring numerous
erupting prominences and CMEs, one of which resulted in picturesque
auroras just over the past week.

Tomorrow's picture: star cocoon
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 19
A red emission nebula is shown against a busy starfield with many dark
dust filaments near the nebula's center. Near the bottom of the image
is a smaller blue reflection nebula. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Luis Romero Ventura

Explanation: Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of
stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15
light-years wide. Soaring high in northern summer night skies, it's
located some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation of the
Swan (Cygnus). Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red,
glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars, and dust-reflected
starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In
fact, the bright star found near the center of this nebula is likely
only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it
clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas.
A 48-hour long integration resulted in this exceptionally deep color
view tracing tantalizing features within and surrounding the dusty
stellar nursery.

Tomorrow's picture: high energy sky
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 20
A large and orange-tinted moon is pictured rising beyond the pillars of
an ancient structure. The foreground is dark and the night sky behind
the Moon appear blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Supermoon Beyond the Temple of Poseidon
Image Credit: Alexandros Maragos

Explanation: A supermoon occurred yesterday. And tonight's moon should
also look impressive. Supermoons appear slightly larger and brighter
than most full moons because they reach their full phase when slightly
nearer to the Earth -- closer than 90 percent of all full moons. This
supermoon was also a blue moon given the definition that it is the
third of four full moons occurring during a single season. Blue moons
are not usually blue, and a different definition holds that a blue moon
is the second full moon that occurs during a single month. The featured
image captured the blue supermoon right near its peak size yesterday as
it was rising beyond the Temple of Poseidon in Greece. This supermoon
is particularly unusual in that it is the first of four successive
supermoons, the next three occurring in September, October, and
November.

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

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2024 August 21
A blue oval is shown with a red and yellow horizontal band running
across the middle. Red and yellow spots also appear distributed inside
the oval. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Fermi's 12-year All-Sky Gamma-ray Map
Image Credit: NASA, DOE, Fermi LAT Collaboration; Text: Barb Mattson
(U. Maryland, NASA's GSFC)

Explanation: Forget X-ray vision CÇö imagine what you could see with
gamma-ray vision! The featured all-sky map shows what the universe
looks like to NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi sees light
with energies about a billion times what the human eye can see, and the
map combines 12 years of Fermi observations. The colors represent the
brightness of the gamma-ray sources, with brighter sources appearing
lighter in color. The prominent stripe across the middle is the central
plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Most of the red and yellow dots
scattered above and below the Milky WayCÇÖs plane are very distant
galaxies, while most of those within the plane are nearby pulsars. The
blue background that fills the image is the diffuse glow of gamma-rays
from distant sources that are too dim to be detected individually. Some
gamma-ray sources remain unidentified and topics of research CÇö
currently no one knows what they are.

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

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

2024 August 22

The Dark Tower in Scorpius
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

Explanation: In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail
of the arachnological constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud
evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower. In fact, monstrous
clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk
within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years
across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. A cometary globule, the
swept-back cloud is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB
association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper right corner
of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the
globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in
the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower and
associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away.

Growing Gallery: Moon Eclipses Saturn in August 2024
Tomorrow's picture: a dark pulsar
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 August 23

Supernova Remnant CTA 1
Image Credit & Copyright: Thomas Lelu

Explanation: There is a quiet pulsar at the heart of CTA 1. The
supernova remnant was discovered as a source of emission at radio
wavelengths by astronomers in 1960 and since identified as the result
of the death explosion of a massive star. But no radio pulses were
detected from the expected pulsar, the rotating neutron star remnant of
the massive star's collapsed core. Seen about 10,000 years after the
initial supernova explosion, the interstellar debris cloud is faint at
optical wavelengths. CTA 1's visible wavelength emission from still
expanding shock fronts is revealed in this deep telescopic image, a
frame that spans about 2 degrees across a starfield in the northern
constellation of Cepheus. While no pulsar has since been found at radio
wavelengths, in 2008 the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected
pulsed emission from CTA 1, identifying the supernova remnant's
rotating neutron star. The source has been recognized as the first in a
growing class of pulsars that are quiet at radio wavelengths but pulse
in high-energy gamma-rays.

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

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2024 August 24

South Pacific Shadowset
Image Credit & Copyright: Jin Wang

Explanation: The full Moon and Earth's shadow set together in this
island skyscape. The alluring scene was captured Tuesday morning,
August 20, from Fiji, South Pacific Ocean, planet Earth. For early
morning risers shadowset in the western sky is a daily apparition.
Still, the grey-blue shadow is often overlooked in favor of a brighter
eastern horizon. Extending through the dense atmosphere, Earth's
setting shadow is bounded above by a pinkish glow or anti-twilight
arch. Known as the Belt of Venus, the arch's lovely color is due to
backscattering of reddened light from the opposite horizon's rising
Sun. Of course, the setting Moon's light is reddened by the long
sight-line through the atmosphere. But on that date the full Moon could
be called a seasonal Blue Moon, the third full Moon in a season with
four full Moons. And even though the full Moon is always impressive
near the horizon, August's full Moon is considered by some the first of
four consecutive full Supermoons in 2024.

Tomorrow's picture: fresh tiger stripes
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 25
A light-colored spherical body is shown mostly illuminated against a
dark background. Many craters are visible. Unusual blue stripes meander
on the surface. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, SSI, Cassini Imaging Team

Explanation: Do underground oceans vent through canyons on Saturn's
moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be
spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud
of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's
mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini
spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high
resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual
surface features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue.
Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon
Mimas, approximately the same size, appears quite dead. An analysis of
ejected ice grains has yielded evidence that complex organic molecules
exist inside Enceladus. These large carbon-rich molecules bolster --
but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus' surface could contain
life.

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

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

2024 August 26

Perseid Meteors Over Inner Mongolia
Video Credit: Jeff Dai (TWAN); Music: Ibaotu catalog number 771024
(Used with permission)

Explanation: Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a
meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is
similar to the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the
glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across the sky -- while knowing
that they were once small pebbles on another world -- might make it all
worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s) can't always share in
your experience. The featured video is composed of short clips taken in
Inner Mongolia, China during the 2023 Perseid Meteor Shower. Several
bright meteors were captured while live-reaction audio was being
recorded -- just as the meteors flashed. This year's 2024 Perseids also
produced many beautiful meteors. Another good meteor shower to watch
for is the Geminids which peak yearly in mid-December, this year with
relatively little competing glow from a nearly new Moon.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: half Saturn
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2024 August 27
A picture of the edge of the Earth's familiar Moon takes up the right
part of the frame, while a partial image of Saturn is visible just
behind it on the left. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Moon Eclipses Saturn
Image Credit & Copyright: Pau Montplet Sanz

Explanation: What if Saturn disappeared? Sometimes, it does. It doesn't
really go away, though, it just disappears from view when our Moon
moves in front. Such a Saturnian eclipse, more formally called an
occultation, was visible along a long swath of Earth -- from Peru,
across the Atlantic Ocean, to Italy -- only a few days ago. The
featured color image is a digital fusion of the clearest images
captured during the event and rebalanced for color and relative
brightness between the relatively dim Saturn and the comparatively
bright Moon. Saturn and the comparative bright Moon. The exposures were
all taken from Breda, Catalonia, Spain, just before occultation.
Eclipses of Saturn by our Moon will occur each month for the rest of
this year. Each time, though, the fleeting event will be visible only
to those with clear skies -- and the right location on Earth.

Gallery: Moon Eclipses Saturn in August 2024
Tomorrow's picture: hole flower
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2024 August 28
A picture of a starfield with red emission nebulae is shown. Toward the
right is a point of light that is Cygnus X-1, a nearby black hole.
Above the black hole is a blue-shaded bow shock wave in the surrounding
gas. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Tulip Nebula and Black Hole Cygnus X-1
Image Credit & Copyright: Anirudh Shastry

Explanation: When can you see a black hole, a tulip, and a swan all at
once? At night -- if the timing is right, and if your telescope is
pointed in the right direction. The complex and beautiful Tulip Nebula
blossoms about 8,000 light-years away toward the constellation of
Cygnus the Swan. Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic stars at
the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association, including O star HDE 227018,
ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula.
Stewart Sharpless cataloged this nearly 70 light-years across reddish
glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust in 1959, as Sh2-101. Also in
the featured field of view is the black hole Cygnus X-1, which to be a
microquasar because it is one of strongest X-ray sources in planet
Earth's sky. Blasted by powerful jets from a lurking black hole, its
fainter bluish curved shock front is only faintly visible beyond the
cosmic Tulip's petals, near the right side of the frame.

Back to School? Learn Science with NASA
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 August 29

Star Factory Messier 17
Image Credit & Copyright: Gaetan Maxant

Explanation: A nearby star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500
light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that
distance, this 1.5 degree wide field-of-view would span about 150
light-years. In the sharp color composite image faint details of the
region's gas and dust clouds are highlighted with narrowband image data
against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. The stellar winds and
energetic radiation from hot, massive stars already formed from M17's
stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining
interstellar material, producing the nebula's cavernous appearance and
the undulating shapes within. A popular stop on telescopic tours of the
cosmos, M17 is also known as the Omega or the Swan Nebula.

Tomorrow's picture: southern moonscape
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2024 August 30

Southern Moonscape
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes

Explanation: The Moon's south pole is toward the top left of this
detailed telescopic moonscape. Captured on August 23, it looks across
the rugged southern lunar highlands. The view's foreshortened
perspective heightens the impression of a dense field of craters and
makes the craters themselves appear more oval shaped close to the lunar
limb. Prominent near center is 114 kilometer diameter crater Moretus.
Moretus is young for a large lunar crater and features terraced inner
walls and a 2.1 kilometer high, central peak, similar in appearance to
the more northerly young crater Tycho. Mountains visible along the
lunar limb at the top can rise about 6 kilometers or so above the
surrounding terrain. Close to the lunar south pole, permanently
shadowed crater floors with expected reservoirs of water-ice have made
the rugged south polar region of the Moon a popular target for
exploration.

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

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

2024 August 31

IFN and the NGC 7771 Group
Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Mandel and Bob Fera

Explanation: Galaxies of the NGC 7771 Group are featured in this
intriguing skyscape. Some 200 million light-years distant toward the
constellation Pegasus, NGC 7771 is the large, edge-on spiral near
center, about 75,000 light-years across, with two smaller galaxies
below it. Large spiral NGC 7769 is seen face-on to the right. Galaxies
of the NGC 7771 group are interacting, making repeated close passages
that will ultimately result in galaxy-galaxy mergers on a cosmic
timescale. The interactions can be traced by distortions in the shape
of the galaxies themselves and faint streams of stars created by their
mutual gravitational tides. But a clear view of this galaxy group is
difficult to come by as the deep image also reveals extensive clouds of
foreground dust sweeping across the field of view. The dim, dusty
galactic cirrus clouds are known as Integrated Flux Nebulae. The faint
IFN reflect starlight from our own Milky Way Galaxy and lie only a few
hundred light-years above the galactic plane.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 1
The featured image shows a crescent Moon over a city and volcano with a
flat cloud running through the center that makes the Moon look a bit
like the planet Saturn. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

The Moon Dressed Like Saturn
Image Credit & Copyright: Francisco Sojuel

Explanation: Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn't -- what is
pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon.
The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible
by reflected Earthlight, known as Da Vinci glow. The Sun directly
illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which
means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken
before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019
December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to
create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan
towns are visible behind the huge volcano Pacaya.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 2
The featured image shows the surface of the Sun with a flowing texture
in red light. Above the Sun's surface an unusual triangular prominence
hovers. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Andrea Vanoni

Explanation: Why is there a triangle hovering over the Sun? Although
the shape is unusual, the type of structure is not: it is part of an
evolving solar prominence. Looping magnetic fields on the Sun channel
the flow of energetic particles, sometimes holding glowing gaseous
structures aloft for months. A prominence glows brightly because it
contains particularly hot, dense, or opaque solar plasma. The
surprising triangular structure occurred last week. Larger than our
Earth, the iconic prominence was imaged by several solar photographers
and documented by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory to form and
violently dissipate in about a day. The featured image was captured in
a color of red light emitted strongly by hydrogen. Below, solar fibrils
carpet the Sun's chromosphere, while the background sky is so faint in
comparison that no stars are visible. Our Sun's surface has been quite
active this year.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 3
The featured image shows an orange sky with clouds across the bottom
and several bright stars near the top center. Just at the top of the
cloud deck on the left is a half-lit Moon. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

Quarter Moon and Sister Stars
Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Dyer, TWAN

Explanation: Nine days ago, two quite different sky icons were imaged
rising together. Specifically, Earth's Moon shared the eastern sky with
the sister stars of the Pleiades cluster, as viewed from Alberta,
Canada. Astronomical images of the well-known Pleiades often show the
star cluster's alluring blue reflection nebulas, but here they are
washed-out by the orange moonrise sky. The half-lit Moon, known as a
quarter moon, is overexposed, although the outline of the dim lunar
night side can be seen by illuminating earthshine, light first
reflected from the Earth. The featured image is a composite of eight
successive exposures with brightnesses adjusted to match what the human
eye would see. The Moon passes nearly -- or directly -- in front of the
Pleaides once a month.

Tomorrow's picture: cosmic bat signal
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 4
The featured image shows a starfield with a two- colored nebula in the
center. The nebula is colored mostly red and blue. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 6995: The Bat Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Taivalmaa

Explanation: Can you see the bat? It haunts this cosmic close-up of the
eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova
remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a
massive star. While the Veil is roughly circular in shape and covers
nearly 3 degrees on the sky toward the constellation of the Swan
(Cygnus), NGC 6995, known informally as the Bat Nebula, spans only 1/2
degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12
light-years at the Veil's estimated distance, a reassuring 1,400
light-years from planet Earth. In the composite of image data recorded
through narrow band filters, emission from hydrogen atoms in the
remnant is shown in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms shown in
hues of blue. Of course, in the western part of the Veil lies another
seasonal apparition: the Witch's Broom Nebula.

Teachers & Students: Ideas for using APOD in the classroom
Tomorrow's picture: friendly spiral
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 5

NGC 247 and Friends
Image Credit & Copyright: Acquisition - Eric Benson, Processing -
Dietmar Hager

Explanation: About 70,000 light-years across, NGC 247 is a spiral
galaxy smaller than our Milky Way. Measured to be only 11 million
light-years distant it is nearby though. Tilted nearly edge-on as seen
from our perspective, it dominates this telescopic field of view toward
the southern constellation Cetus. The pronounced void on one side of
the galaxy's disk recalls for some its popular name, the Needle's Eye
galaxy. Many background galaxies are visible in this sharp galaxy
portrait, including the remarkable string of four galaxies just below
and left of NGC 247 known as Burbidge's Chain. Burbidge's Chain
galaxies are about 300 million light-years distant. NGC 247 itself is
part of the Sculptor Group of galaxies along with shiny spiral NGC 253.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 6

Ringed Ice Giant Neptune
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, NIRCam

Explanation: Ringed ice giant Neptune lies near the center of this
sharp near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The dim
and distant world is the farthest planet from the Sun, about 30 times
farther away than planet Earth. But in the stunning Webb view, the
planet's dark and ghostly appearance is due to atmospheric methane that
absorbs infrared light. High altitude clouds that reach above most of
Neptune's absorbing methane easily stand out in the image though.
Coated with frozen nitrogen, Neptune's largest moon Triton is brighter
than Neptune in reflected sunlight, seen at the upper left sporting the
Webb telescope's characteristic diffraction spikes. Including Triton,
seven of Neptune's 14 known moons can be identified in the field of
view. Neptune's faint rings are striking in this space-based planetary
portrait. Details of the complex ring system are seen here for the
first time since Neptune was visited by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in
August 1989.

Tomorrow's picture: terrorizing Mars
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2024 September 7

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

Explanation: Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, named for the
figures in Greek mythology Fear and Panic. Detailed surface views of
smaller moon Deimos are shown in both these panels. The images were
taken in 2009, by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter spacecraft, NASA's long-lived interplanetary internet
satellite. The outermost of the two Martian moons, Deimos is one of the
smallest known moons in the Solar System, measuring only about 15
kilometers across. Both Martian moons were discovered in 1877 by Asaph
Hall, an American astronomer working at the US Naval Observatory in
Washington D.C. But their existence was postulated around 1610 by
Johannes Kepler, the astronomer who derived the laws of planetary
motion. In this case, Kepler's prediction was not based on scientific
principles, but his writings and ideas were so influential that the two
Martian moons are discussed in works of fiction such as Jonathan
Swift's Gulliver's Travels, written in 1726, over 150 years before
their discovery.

Tomorrow's picture: large galaxy Andromeda
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 8
The featured image shows a spiral galaxy and a smaller oval galaxy in a
dark starfield. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
Image Credit: Subaru (NAOJ), Hubble (NASA/ESA), Mayall (NSF);
Processing & Copyright: R. Gendler & R. Croman

Explanation: The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye
is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy. Even at some two and a half million
light-years distant, this immense spiral galaxy -- spanning over
200,000 light years -- is visible, although as a faint, nebulous cloud
in the constellation Andromeda. A bright yellow nucleus, dark winding
dust lanes, and expansive spiral arms dotted with blue star clusters
and red nebulae, are recorded in this stunning telescopic image which
combines data from orbiting Hubble with ground-based images from Subaru
and Mayall. In only about 5 billion years, the Andromeda galaxy may be
even easier to see -- as it will likely span the entire night sky --
just before it merges with, or passes right by, our Milky Way Galaxy.

Teachers & Students: Ideas for using APOD in the classroom
Tomorrow's picture: dark moon, red planet
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 9
A panoramic view of the surface of Mars. Several landforms are visible
including craters and volcanos. A small dark moon is superposed in
front of part of the surface. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos
Image Credit: ESA, DLR, FU Berlin, Mars Express; Processing & CC BY 2.0
License: Andrea Luck; h/t: Phil Plait

Explanation: If you could fly over Mars, what might you see? The
featured image shows exactly this in the form of a Mars Express vista
captured over a particularly interesting region on Mars in July. The
picture's most famous feature is Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in
the Solar System, visible on the upper right. Another large Martian
volcano is visible on the right horizon: Pavonis Mons. Several circular
impact craters can be seen on the surface of the aptly named red
planet. Impressively, this image was timed to capture the dark and
doomed Martian moon Phobos, visible just left of center. The surface
feature on the lower left, known as Orcus Patera, is unusual for its
large size and oblong shape, and mysterious because the processes that
created it still remain unknown. ESA's robotic Mars Express spacecraft
was launched in 2003 and, among many notable science discoveries,
bolstered evidence that Mars was once home to large bodies of water.

Tomorrow's picture: golden space horse
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 10
The featured image a starfield that glows gold. On the left is the dark
horsehead nebula, while on the right is the blue-glowing Orion Nebula.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Horsehead and Orion Nebulas
Image Credit & Copyright: Antoine & Dalia Grelin

Explanation: The dark Horsehead Nebula and the glowing Orion Nebula are
contrasting cosmic vistas. Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the
night sky's most recognizable constellations, they appear in opposite
corners of the above stunning mosaic. The familiar Horsehead nebula
appears as a dark cloud, a small silhouette notched against the long
glow of hydrogen -- here shown in gold -- at the lower left. Alnitak is
the easternmost star in Orion's belt and is seen as the brightest star
just below and to the left of the Horsehead. To the left of Alnitak is
the Flame Nebula, with clouds of bright emission and dramatic dark dust
lanes. The magnificent emission region, the Orion Nebula (aka M42),
lies at the upper right. Immediately to its left is a prominent
reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man. Pervasive tendrils
of glowing hydrogen gas are easily traced throughout the region.

Astrophysicists: Browse 3,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
Library
Tomorrow's picture: river meets sky
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 11
A starry sky is shown with the busy central band of our Milky Way
Galaxy showing diagonally from the upper left. Mountains are on the
horizon, with trees and a stream running up from the foreground. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Night Sky over the Tatra Mountains
Image Credit: Marcin Rosadzi+äski; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY
Oswego)

Explanation: A natural border between Slovakia and Poland is the Tatra
Mountains. A prominent destination for astrophotographers, the Tatras
are the highest mountain range in the Carpathians. In the featured
image taken in May, one can see the center of our Milky Way galaxy with
two of its famous stellar nurseries, the Lagoon and Omega Nebula, just
over the top of the Tatras. Stellar nurseries are full of ionized
hydrogen, a fundamental component for the formation of Earth-abundant
water. As a fundamental ingredient in all known forms of life, water is
a crucial element in the Universe. Such water can be seen in the
foreground in the form of the Bialka River.

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

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 12

Young Star Cluster NGC 1333
Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld,
R. Jayawardhana

Explanation: This spectacular mosaic of images from the James Webb
Space Telescope peers into the heart of young star cluster NGC 1333. A
mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation Perseus,
the nearby star cluster lies at the edge of the large Perseus molecular
cloud. Part of Webb's deep exploration of the region to identify low
mass brown dwarf stars and free floating planets, the space telescope's
combined field of view spans nearly 2 light-years across the dusty
cluster's turbulent stellar nursery. In fact, NGC 1333 is known to
harbor stars less than a million years old, though most are 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.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 13

Aurora Australis and the International Space Station
Image Credit: NASA, ISS Expedition 71

Explanation: This snapshot from the International Space Station was
taken on August 11 while orbiting about 430 kilometers above the Indian
Ocean, Southern Hemisphere, planet Earth. The spectacular view looks
south and east, down toward the planet's horizon and through red and
green curtains of aurora australis. The auroral glow is caused by
emission from excited oxygen atoms in the extremely rarefied upper
atmosphere still present at the level of the orbiting outpost. Green
emission from atomic oxygen dominates this scene at altitudes of 100 to
250 kilometers, while red emission from atomic oxygen can extend as
high as 500 kilometers altitude. Beyond the glow of these southern
lights, this view from low Earth orbit reveals the starry sky from a
southern hemisphere perspective. Stars in Orion's belt and the Orion
Nebula are near the Earth's limb just left of center. Sirius, alpha
star of Canis Major and brightest star in planet Earth's night is above
center along the right edge of the southern orbital skyscape.

Looking Up: International Observe the Moon Night
Tomorrow's picture: If the Moon could smile
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 14

The Moona Lisa
Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Sarcone and Marcella Giulia Pace

Explanation: Only natural colors of the Moon in planet Earth's sky
appear in this creative visual presentation. Arranged as pixels in a
framed image, the lunar disks were photographed at different times.
Their varying hues are ultimately due to reflected sunlight affected by
changing atmospheric conditions and the alignment geometry of Moon,
Earth, and Sun. Here, the darkest lunar disks are the colors of
earthshine. A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight reflected
by Earth's oceans illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written
over 500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci. But stand farther back from
your screen or just shift your gaze to the smaller versions of the
image. You might also see one of da Vinci's most famous works of art.

Tonight: International Observe the Moon Night
Tomorrow's picture: lunar pronouns
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 15
Earth's Moon is shown just beyond a rocky hill. The Moon is near full
phase. On the hill the silhouette of a person looking through a
telescope can be seen. A rollover darkens part of the Moon that looks
to some like a human face. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Find the Man in the Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Dani Caxete

Explanation: Have you ever seen the Man in the Moon? This common
question plays on the ability of humans to see pareidolia -- imagining
familiar icons where they don't actually exist. The textured surface of
Earth's full Moon is home to numerous identifications of iconic
objects, not only in modern western culture but in world folklore
throughout history. Examples, typically dependent on the Moon's
perceived orientation, include the Woman in the Moon and the Rabbit in
the Moon. One facial outline commonly identified as the Man in the Moon
starts by imagining the two dark circular areas -- lunar maria -- here
just above the Moon's center, to be the eyes. Surprisingly, there
actually is a man in this Moon image -- a close look will reveal a real
person -- with a telescope -- silhouetted against the Moon. This
well-planned image was taken in 2016 in Cadalso de los Vidrios in
Madrid, Spain.

Observe the Moon Night: NASA Coverage
Tomorrow's picture: near Mercury
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 16
The cratered surface of a large body is shown: Mercury. The largest
feature visible is a large impact crater with two rings, near the image
center. Arms from the BepiColumbo spacecraft that took the image are
seen extending into the image from the top and the right. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Mercury's Vivaldi Crater from BepiColombo
Image Credit: ESA, JAXA, BepiColombo, MTM

Explanation: Why does this large crater on Mercury have two rings and a
smooth floor? No one is sure. The unusual feature called Vivaldi Crater
spans 215 kilometers and was imaged again in great detail by ESA's and
JAXA's robotic BepiColombo spacecraft on a flyby earlier this month. A
large circular feature on a rocky planet or moon is usually caused by
either an impact by a small asteroid or a comet fragment, or a volcanic
eruption. In the case of Vivaldi, it is possible that both occurred --
a heavy strike that caused a smooth internal lava flow. Double-ringed
craters are rare, and the cause of the inner rings remains a topic of
research. The speed-slowing gravity-assisted flyby of Mercury by
BepiColombo was in preparation for the spacecraft entering orbit around
the Solar System's innermost planet in 2026.

Tomorrow's picture: dusty heart
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 17
A starfield is shown with a a bright orange nebula in the center. The
nebula is filamentary and takes up much of the bottom and middle of the
frame. The top is most dark with some bright stars. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Melotte 15 in the Heart Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Richard McInnis

Explanation: Cosmic clouds form fantastic shapes in the central regions
of emission nebula IC 1805. The clouds are sculpted by stellar winds
and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star
cluster, Melotte 15. About 1.5 million years young, the cluster stars
are scattered in this colorful skyscape, along with dark dust clouds in
silhouette against glowing atomic gas. A composite of narrowband and
broadband telescopic images, the view spans about 15 light-years and
includes emission from ionized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms
mapped to green, red, and blue hues in the popular Hubble Palette.
Wider field images reveal that IC 1805's simpler, overall outline
suggests its popular name - the Heart Nebula. IC 1805 is located about
7,500 light years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 18
A starfield is shown with a long blue-glowing nebula taking up much of
the frame. The nebula appears, to some, similar to a fish or a mermaid.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
Image Credit & Copyright: Neil Corke; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY
Oswego)

Explanation: New stars are born from the remnants of dead stars. The
gaseous remnant of the gravitational collapse and subsequent death of a
very massive star in our Milky Way created the G296.5+10.0 supernova
remnant, of which the featured Mermaid Nebula is part. Also known as
the Betta Fish Nebula, the Mermaid Nebula makes up part of an unusual
subclass of supernova remnants that are two-sided and nearly circular.
Originally discovered in X-rays, the filamentary nebula is a frequently
studied source also in radio and gamma-ray light. The blue color
visible here originates from doubly ionized oxygen (OIII), while the
deep red is emitted by hydrogen gas. The nebula's mermaid-like shape
has proven to be useful for measurements of the interstellar magnetic
field.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 19

The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus
Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Broise

Explanation: Spanning light-years, this suggestive shape known as the
Seahorse Nebula floats in silhouette against a rich, luminous
background of stars. Seen toward the royal northern constellation of
Cepheus, the dusty, dark nebula is part of a Milky Way molecular cloud
some 1,200 light-years distant. It is also listed as Barnard 150
(B150), one of 182 dark markings of the sky cataloged in the early 20th
century by astronomer E. E. Barnard. Packs of low mass stars are
forming within, but their collapsing cores are only visible at long
infrared wavelengths. Still, the colorful Milky Way stars of Cepheus
add to this stunning galactic skyscape.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 September 20

A Hazy Harvest Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Hor+ílek / Institute of Physics in Opava

Explanation: For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon
was the Harvest Moon. On September 17/18 the sunlit lunar nearside
passed into shadow, just grazing Earth's umbra, the planet's dark,
central shadow cone, in a partial lunar eclipse. Over the two and half
hours before dawn a camera fixed to a tripod was used to record this
series of exposures as the eclipsed Harvest Moon set behind Spi+í Castle
in the hazy morning sky over eastern Slovakia. Famed in festival,
story, and song, Harvest Moon is just the traditional name of the full
moon nearest the autumnal equinox. According to lore the name is a
fitting one. Despite the diminishing daylight hours as the growing
season drew to a close, farmers could harvest crops by the light of a
full moon shining on from dusk to dawn. This September's Harvest Moon
was also known to some as a supermoon, a term becoming a traditional
name for a full moon near perigee.

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

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

2024 September 21

Sunrise Shadows in the Sky
Image Credit & Copyright: Emili Vilamala

Explanation: The defining astronomical moment of this September's
equinox is at 12:44 UTC on September 22, when the Sun crosses the
celestial equator moving south in its yearly journey through planet
Earth's sky. That marks the beginning of fall for our fair planet in
the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere, when day
and night are nearly equal around the globe. Of course, if you
celebrate the astronomical change of seasons by watching a sunrise you
can also look for crepuscular rays. Outlined by shadows cast by clouds,
crepuscular rays can have a dramatic appearance in the twilight sky
during any sunrise (or sunset). Due to perspective, the parallel cloud
shadows will seem to point back to the rising Sun and a place due east
on your horizon on the equinox date. But in this spectacular sunrise
skyscape captured in early June, the parallel shadows and crepuscular
rays appear to converge toward an eastern horizon's more northerly
sunrise. The well-composed photo places the rising Sun just behind the
bell tower of a church in the town of Vic, province of Barcelona,
Catalonia, Spain.

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

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2024 September 22
A picture of the Sun setting at the end of a long city street is shown.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Chicagohenge: Equinox in an Aligned City
Image Credit & Copyright: Anthony Artese

Explanation: Chicago, in a way, is like a modern Stonehenge. The way is
east to west, and the time is today. Today, and every equinox, the Sun
will set exactly to the west, everywhere on Earth. Therefore, today in
Chicago, the Sun will set directly down the long equatorially-aligned
grid of streets and buildings, an event dubbed #chicagohenge. Featured
here is a Chicago Henge picture taken during the equinox in
mid-September of 2017 looking along part of Upper Wacker Drive. Many
cities, though, have streets or other features that are well-aligned to
Earth's spin axis. Therefore, quite possibly, your favorite street may
also run east - west. Tonight at sunset, with a quick glance, you can
actually find out.

Tomorrow's picture: comet approaches
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 September 23
A picture shows a starfield with three prominent objects. A blue spiral
galaxy is on the lower left and another blue spiral is just left of
center. Toward the upper right is a light-colored comet with a tail
fading toward in the image bottom. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS Approaches
Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Valente & Greg Stein

Explanation: What will happen as this already bright comet approaches?
Optimistic predictions have Comet C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanCÇôATLAS) briefly
becoming easily visible to the unaided eye -- although the future
brightness of comets are notoriously hard to predict, and this comet
may even break up in warming sunlight. What is certain is that the
comet is now unexpectedly bright and is on track to pass its closest to
the Sun (0.39 AU) later this week and closest to the Earth (0.47 AU)
early next month. The featured image was taken in late May as Comet
TsuchinshanCÇôATLAS, discovered only last year, passed nearly in front of
two distant galaxies. The comet can now be found with binoculars in the
early morning sky rising just before the Sun, while over the next few
weeks it will brighten as it moves to the early evening sky.

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

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 September 24
A brown dusty nebula is shown in front of a star field. The nebula
looks to some like a baboon, with red emission stemming from the mouth
and blue reflection from the eyes. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

NGC 6727: The Rampaging Baboon Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Alpha Zhang & Ting Yu

Explanation: This dusty region is forming stars. Part of a sprawling
molecular cloud complex that resembles, to some, a rampaging baboon,
the region is a relatively close by 500 light-years away toward the
constellation Corona Australis. That's about one third the distance of
the more famous stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. Mixed with
bright nebulosities, the brown dust clouds effectively block light from
more distant background stars in the Milky Way and obscure from view
embedded stars still in the process of formation. The eyes of the dust
creature in the featured image are actually blue reflection nebulas
cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812, while the red mouth
glows with light emitted by hydrogen gas. Just to the upper left of the
baboon's head is NGC 6723, a whole globular cluster of stars nearly
30,000 light years in the distance.

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

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

2024 September 25
A sunrise sky is shown over water and trees. The horizon is orange and
the top of the image is deep blue. On the far right vertical bands are
shown becoming progressively darker. In each band a comet appears, with
the comet appearing increasingly near the top of the image on lighter
bands. The main part of the image on the left is the lightest. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet A3 Through an Australian Sunrise
Image Credit & Copyright: Lucy Yunxi Hu

Explanation: Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now visible in the early
morning sky. Diving into the inner Solar System at an odd angle, this
large dirty iceberg will pass its closest to the Sun -- between the
orbits of Mercury and Venus -- in just two days. Long camera exposures
are now capturing C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanCÇôATLAS), sometimes abbreviated
as just A3, and its dust tail before and during sunrise. The featured
image composite was taken four days ago and captured the comet as it
rose above Lake George, NSW, Australia. Vertical bands further left are
images of the comet as the rising Sun made the predawn sky increasingly
bright and colorful. Just how bright the comet will become over the
next month is currently unknown as it involves how much gas and dust
the comet's nucleus will expel. Optimistic skywatchers are hoping for a
great show where TsuchinshanCÇôATLAS creates dust and ion tails visible
across Earth's sky and becomes known as the Great Comet of 2024.

Survey: Color Blindness and Astronomical Images
Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 September 26

The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
Image Credit & Copyright: Jan Beckmann, Julian Zoller, Lukas Eisert,
Wolfgang Hummel

Explanation: In 1716, English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, "This is
but a little Patch, but it shows itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky
is serene and the Moon absent." Of course, M13 is now less modestly
recognized as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, one of the
brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. Sharp telescopic
views like this one reveal the spectacular cluster's hundreds of
thousands of stars. At a distance of 25,000 light-years, the cluster
stars crowd into a region 150 light-years in diameter. Approaching the
cluster core, upwards of 100 stars could be contained in a cube just 3
light-years on a side. For comparison, the closest star to the Sun is
over 4 light-years away. The deep, wide-field image also reveals
distant background galaxies including NGC 6207 at the upper left, and
faint, foreground Milky Way dust clouds known to some as integrated
flux nebulae.

Tomorrow's picture: in the local universe
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2024 September 27

Stellar Streams in the Local Universe
Image Credit: David Martinez Delgado et al.

Explanation: The twenty galaxies arrayed in these panels are part of an
ambitious astronomical survey of tidal stellar streams. Each panel
presents a composite view; a deep, inverted image taken from publicly
available imaging surveys of a field that surrounds a nearby massive
galaxy image. The inverted images reveal faint cosmic structures, star
streams hundreds of thousands of light-years across, that result from
the gravitational disruption and eventual merger of satellite galaxies
in the local universe. Such surveys of mergers and gravitational tidal
interactions between massive galaxies and their dwarf satellites are
crucial guides for current models of galaxy formation and cosmology. Of
course, the detection of stellar streams in the neighboring Andromeda
Galaxy and our own Milky Way also offers spectacular evidence for
ongoing satellite galaxy disruption within our more local galaxy group.

Tomorrow's picture: eclipse at sunset
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 September 28

Rocket Eclipse at Sunset
Image Credit & Copyright: Ben Cooper (Launch Photography)

Explanation: Shockwaves ripple across the glare as a launch eclipses
the setting Sun in this exciting close-up. Captured on September 17,
the roaring Falcon 9 rocket carried European Galileo L13 navigation
satellites to medium Earth orbit after a lift-off from Cape Canaveral
on Florida's space coast. The Falcon 9 booster returned safely to Earth
about 8.5 minutes later, notching the 22nd launch and landing for the
reusable workhorse launch vehicle. But where did it land? Just Read the
Instructions.

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

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

2024 September 29
A famous Pleiades star cluster is shown but showing numerous parallel
and curved filaments in different colors. The image is in several
colors of infrared light. A rollover image shows the cluster in visible
light with its familiar blue light. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Seven Dusty Sisters
Image Credit: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright : Francesco
Antonucci

Explanation: Is this really the famous Pleiades star cluster? Known for
its iconic blue stars, the Pleiades is shown here in infrared light
where the surrounding dust outshines the stars. Here, three infrared
colors have been mapped into visual colors (R=24, G=12, B=4.6 microns).
The base images were taken by NASA's orbiting Wide Field Infrared
Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Cataloged as M45 and nicknamed the
Seven Sisters, the Pleiades star cluster is by chance situated in a
passing dust cloud. The light and winds from the massive Pleiades stars
preferentially repel smaller dust particles, causing the dust to become
stratified into filaments, as seen. The featured image spans about 20
light years at the distance of the Pleiades, which lies about 450 light
years distant toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus).

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

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

2024 September 30
A picture shows clouds across the bottom and a dark night sky across
the top. In the middle is a band of orange sky. City lights are visible
on the right through gaps in the clouds. In the center of the upper sky
is a comet with its tail pointing toward the upper right. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS over Mexico
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Korona

Explanation: The new comet has passed its closest to the Sun and is now
moving closer to the Earth. C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanCÇôATLAS) is currently
moving out from inside the orbit of Venus and on track to pass its
nearest to the Earth in about two weeks. Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS,
pronounced "Choo-cheen-shahn At-less,", is near naked-eye visibility
and easily picked up by long-exposure cameras. The comet can also now
be found by observers in Earth's northern hemisphere as well as the
south. The featured image was captured just a few days ago above
Zacatecas, Mexico. Because clouds were obscuring much of the pre-dawn
sky, the astrophotographer released a drone to take pictures from
higher up, several of which were later merged to enhance the comet's
visibility. Although the future brightness of comets is hard to
predict, there is increasing hope that Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS will
further brighten as it enters the early evening sky.

Growing Gallery: Comet Tsuchinsan-ATLAS in 2024
Tomorrow's picture: black hole jet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 October 1

Porphyrion: The Longest Known Black Hole Jets
Animation Credit: Science Communication Lab for Martijn Oei et al.,
Caltech

Explanation: How far can black hole jets extend? A new record was found
just recently with the discovery of a 23-million light-year long jet
pair from a black hole active billions of years ago. Dubbed Porphyrion
for a mythological Greek giant, the impressive jets were created by a
type of black hole that does not usually create long jets -- one that
is busy creating radiation from infalling gas. The featured animated
video depicts what it might look like to circle around this powerful
black hole system. Porphyrion is shown as a fast stream of energetic
particles, and the bright areas are where these particles are impacting
surrounding gas. The discovery was made using data from the Keck and
Mayall (DESI) optical observatories as well as LOFAR and the Giant
Metrewave Radio Telescope. The existence of these jets demonstrates
that black holes can affect not only their home galaxies but far out
into the surrounding universe.

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

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 October 2
An unusual looking galaxy is shown with a light bar running nearly
vertical and blue stars and red nebulas around the edges. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Ireneusz Nowak; Text: Natalia Lewandowska
(SUNY Oswego)

Explanation: It is the largest satellite galaxy of our home Milky Way
Galaxy. If you live in the south, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is
quite noticeable, spanning about 10 degrees across the night sky, which
is 20 times larger than the full moon towards the southern
constellation of the dolphinfish (Dorado). Being only about 160,000
light years away, many details of the LMC's structure can be seen, such
as its central bar and its single spiral arm. The LMC harbors numerous
stellar nurseries where new stars are being born, which appear in pink
in the featured image. It is home to the Tarantula Nebula, the
currently most active star forming region in the entire Local Group, a
small collection of nearby galaxies dominated by the massive Andromeda
and Milky Way galaxies. Studies of the LMC and the Small Magellanic
Cloud (SMC) by Henrietta Swan Leavitt led to the discovery of the
period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars that are used
to measure distances across the nearby universe.

Survey: Color Blindness and Astronomical Images
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2024 December 2
A classic spiral galaxy is shown with blue spiral arms. The center is
yellow-red. Many star clusters are easily visible. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 300: A Galaxy of Stars
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Stern

Explanation: This galaxy is unusual for how many stars it seems that
you can see. Stars are so abundantly evident in this deep exposure of
the spiral galaxy NGC 300 because so many of these stars are bright
blue and grouped into resolvable bright star clusters. Additionally,
NGC 300 is so clear because it is one of the closest spiral galaxies to
Earth, as light takes only about 6 million years to get here. Of
course, galaxies are composed of many more faint stars than bright, and
even more of a galaxy's mass is attributed to unseen dark matter. NGC
300 spans nearly the same amount of sky as the full moon and is visible
with a small telescope toward the southern constellation of the
Sculptor. The featured image was captured in October from Rio Hurtado,
Chile and is a composite of over 20 hours of exposure.

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

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

2024 December 3
Ice clouds are seen over the surface of Mars on the upper right. Toward
the lower left is a bright spot in the sky which is likely the Sun
setting through Martian dust. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Ice Clouds over a Red Planet
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Kevin M. Gill; Processing: Rogelio
Bernal Andreo

Explanation: If you could stand on Mars -- what might you see? You
might look out over a vast orange landscape covered with rocks under a
dusty orange sky, with a blue-tinted Sun setting over the horizon, and
odd-shaped water clouds hovering high overhead. This was just the view
captured last March by NASA's rolling explorer, Perseverance. The
orange coloring is caused by rusted iron in the Martian dirt, some of
which is small enough to be swept up by winds into the atmosphere. The
blue tint near the setting Sun is caused by blue light being
preferentially scattered out from the Sun by the floating dust. The
light-colored clouds on the right are likely composed of water-ice and
appear high in the Martian atmosphere. The shapes of some of these
clouds are unusual for Earth and remain a topic of research.

Tomorrow's picture: driveway sunspots
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 4

Driveway Analemma
Video Credit & Copyright: Nick Wright

Explanation: Does the Sun return to the same spot on the sky every
day? No. A more visual answer is an analemma, a composite of sky
images taken at the same time and from the same place over a year. At
completion, you can see that the Sun makes a figure 8 on the sky. The
featured unusual analemma does not, however, picture the Sun directly:
it was created by looking in the opposite direction. All that was
required was noting where the shadow of an edge of a house was in the
driveway every clear day at the same time. Starting in March in Falcon,
Colorado, USA, the photographer methodically marked the shadow's 1 pm
location. In one frame you can even see the photographer himself.
Although this analemma will be completed in 2025, you can start drawing
your own driveway analemma -- using no fancy equipment -- as soon as
today.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 5

Stereo Jupiter near Opposition
Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Lorenzi

Explanation: Jupiter looks sharp in these two rooftop telescope images.
Both were captured last year on November 17 from Singapore, planet
Earth, about two weeks after Jupiter's 2023 opposition. Climbing high
in midnight skies the giant planet was a mere 33.4 light-minutes from
Singapore. That's about 4 astronomical units away. Jupiter's planet
girdling dark belts and light zones are visible in remarkable detail,
along with the giant world's whitish oval vortices. Its signature Great
Red Spot is prominent in the south. Jupiter rotates rapidly on its axis
once every 10 hours. So, based on video frames taken only 15 minutes
apart, these images form a stereo pair. Look at the center of the pair
and cross your eyes until the separate images come together to see the
3D effect. Of course Jupiter is now not far from its 2024 opposition.
Planet Earth is set to pass between the Solar System's ruling gas giant
and the Sun on December 7.

Tomorrow's picture: Fireball Tsuchinshan
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 8
A picture of Saturn is shown with tan clouds and light rings.
Surrounding the north pole at the top are bright blue swirls. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Aurora around Saturn's North Pole
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, OPAL Program, J. DePasquale (STScI),
L. Lamy (Obs. Paris)

Explanation: Are Saturn's auroras like Earth's? To help answer this
question, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Cassini spacecraft
monitored Saturn's North Pole simultaneously during Cassini's final
orbits around the gas giant in September 2017. During this time,
Saturn's tilt caused its North Pole to be clearly visible from Earth.
The featured image is a composite of ultraviolet images of auroras and
optical images of Saturn's clouds and rings, all taken by Hubble. Like
on Earth, Saturn's northern auroras can make total or partial rings
around the pole. Unlike on Earth, however, Saturn's auroras are
frequently spirals -- and more likely to peak in brightness just before
midnight and dawn. In contrast to Jupiter's auroras, Saturn's auroras
appear better related to connecting Saturn's internal magnetic field to
the nearby, variable, solar wind. Saturn's southern auroras were
similarly imaged back in 2004 when the planet's South Pole was clearly
visible to Earth.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 9
A star field shows many bright blue stars as well as bright blue
reflecting gas. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Pleiades: The Seven Sisters Star Cluster
Image Credit & Copyright: Francesco Pelizzo

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 23-hour exposure, taken from Fagagna, Italy
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.

New: Alternative multi-APOD front page
Tomorrow's picture: wooden meteors
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 10
A black and white drawing shows many meteors crossing the sky above a
small town with many people outside watching. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

The Great Meteor Storm of 1833
Image Credit: Engraving: Adolf Vollmy; Original Art: Karl Jauslin

Explanation: It was a night of 100,000 meteors. The Great Meteor Storm
of 1833 was perhaps the most impressive meteor event in recent history.
Best visible over eastern North America during the pre-dawn hours of
November 13, many people -- including a young Abraham Lincoln -- were
woken up to see the sky erupt in streaks and flashes. Hundreds of
thousands of meteors blazed across the sky, seemingly pouring out of
the constellation of the Lion (Leo). The featured image is a
digitization of a wood engraving which itself was based on a painting
from a first-person account. We know today that the Great Meteor Storm
of 1833 was caused by the Earth moving through a dense part of the dust
trail expelled from Comet Tempel-Tuttle. The Earth moves through this
dust stream every November during the Leonid meteor shower. Later this
week you might get a slight taste of the intensity of that 1833 meteor
storm by witnessing the annual Geminid meteor shower.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 11
A galaxy is seen in the center of the image. Faint shells are seen
around it. A red-colored jet is seen emanating from the galaxy toward
the lower right. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

The Shells and Jets of Galaxy Centaurus A
Image Credit: Rolf Olsen

Explanation: What's the closest active galaxy to planet Earth? That
would be Centaurus A, cataloged as NGC 5128, which is only 12 million
light-years distant. Forged in a collision of two otherwise normal
galaxies, Centaurus A shows several distinctive features including a
dark dust lane across its center, outer shells of stars and gas, and
jets of particles shooting out from a supermassive black hole at its
center. The featured image captures all of these in a composite series
of visible light images totaling over 310 hours captured over the past
10 years with a homebuilt telescope operating in Auckland, New Zealand.
The brightness of Cen A's center from low-energy radio waves to
high-energy gamma rays underlies its designation as an active galaxy.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 12

Phaethon's Brood
Image Credit & Copyright: Mikiya Sato (Nippon Meteor Society)

Explanation: Based on its well-measured orbit, 3200 Phaethon (sounds
like FAY-eh-thon) is recognized as the source of the meteoroid stream
responsible for the annual Geminid meteor shower. Even though most
meteor shower parents are comets, 3200 Phaethon is a known and closely
tracked near-Earth asteroid with a 1.4 year orbital period. Rocky and
sun-baked, its perihelion or closest approach to the Sun is well within
the orbit of innermost planet Mercury. In this telescopic field of
view, the asteroid's rapid motion against faint background stars of the
heroic constellation Perseus left a short trail during the two minute
total exposure time. The (faint) parallel streaks of its meteoric
children flashed much more quickly across the scene. The family
portrait was recorded near the Geminid meteor shower's very active peak
on 2017 December 13. That was just three days before 3200 Phaethon's
historic close approach to planet Earth. This year, the night of
December 13 should again see the peak of the Geminid meteor shower, but
faint meteors will be washed out by the bright light of the nearly full
moon.

Watch: The 2024 Geminid Meteor Shower
Tomorrow's picture: deep sky
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 December 13

M51: Tidal Streams and H-alpha Cliffs
Image Credit & Copyright: The Deep Sky Collective - Tim Schaeffer,
Carl Bj++rk, Steeve Body, Fabian Neyer, Aki Jain, Ryan Wierckx, Paul
Kent, Brian Valente, Antoine & Dalia Grelin,
Nicolas Puig, Stephen Guberski, Mike Hamende, Julian Shapiro, John
Dziuba, Mikhail Vasilev, Bogdan Borz, Adrien Keijzer

Explanation: An intriguing pair of interacting galaxies, M51 is the
51st entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog. Perhaps the original
spiral nebula, the large galaxy with whirlpool-like spiral structure
seen nearly face-on is also cataloged as NGC 5194. Its spiral arms and
dust lanes sweep in front of its smaller companion galaxy, NGC 5195.
Some 31 million light-years distant, within the boundaries of the
well-trained constellation Canes Venatici, M51 looks faint and fuzzy to
the eye in direct telescopic views. But this remarkably deep image
shows off stunning details of the galaxy pair's striking colors and
fainter tidal streams. The image includes extensive narrowband data to
highlight a vast reddish cloud of ionized hydrogen gas recently
discovered in the M51 system and known to some as the H-alpha cliffs.
Foreground dust clouds in the Milky Way and distant background galaxies
are captured in the wide-field view. A continuing collaboration of
astro-imagers using telescopes on planet Earth assembled over 3 weeks
of exposure time to create this evolving portrait of M51.

Watch: The 2024 Geminid Meteor Shower
Tomorrow's picture: deep diving
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 December 14

Apollo 17's Moonship
Image Credit: Apollo 17, NASA, (Image Reprocessing: Andy Saunders)

Explanation: 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 allowing
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? 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.

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

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

2024 December 15
A snowy landscape is pictured below a starry sky. The very bright Moon
appears on the upper right. Many streaks are visile that are meteors
taken over the night. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Geminid Meteors over a Snowy Forest
Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Ku+Ö+ík

Explanation: Meteors have been flowing out from the constellation
Gemini. This was expected, as mid-December is the time of the Geminid
Meteor Shower. Pictured here, over two dozen meteors were caught in
successively added exposures taken over several hours early Saturday
morning from a snowy forest in Poland. The fleeting streaks were bright
enough to be seen over the din of the nearly full Moon on the upper
right. These streaks can all be traced back to a point on the sky
called the radiant toward the bright stars Pollux and Castor in the
image center. The Geminid meteors started as sand sized bits expelled
from asteroid 3200 Phaethon during its elliptical orbit through the
inner Solar System.

Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: comet cliff
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 December 16
A black and white image shows, from the side, the wall of a high jagged
cliff. At the bottom of the cliff is a smooth landing dotted with
rocks. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Kilometer High Cliff on Comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko
Image Credit & Licence (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO): ESA, Rosetta spacecraft,
NAVCAM; Additional Processing: Stuart Atkinson

Explanation: This kilometer high cliff occurs on the surface of a
comet. It was discovered on the dark nucleus of Comet Churyumov -
Gerasimenko (CG) by Rosetta, a robotic spacecraft launched by ESA,
which orbited the comet from 2014 to 2016. The ragged cliff, as
featured here, was imaged by Rosetta early in its mission. Although
towering about one kilometer high, the low surface gravity of Comet CG
would likely make a jump from the cliffs by a human survivable. At the
foot of the cliffs is relatively smooth terrain dotted with boulders as
large as 20 meters across. Data from Rosetta indicates that the ice in
Comet CG has a significantly different deuterium fraction -- and hence
likely a different origin -- than the water in Earth's oceans. The
probe was named after the Rosetta Stone, a rock slab featuring the same
text written in three different languages that helped humanity decipher
ancient Egyptian writing.

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

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

2024 December 17
A wide star field is shown with several nebulae as identified by the
rollover image. On the upper left is a large nebula named the Heart
Nebula. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Near to the Heart Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Horne & Drew Evans

Explanation: What excites the Heart Nebula? First, the large emission
nebula on the upper left, catalogued as IC 1805, looks somewhat like a
human heart. The nebula glows brightly in red light emitted by its most
prominent element, hydrogen, but this long-exposure image was also
blended with light emitted by sulfur (yellow) and oxygen (blue). In the
center of the Heart Nebula are young stars from the open star cluster
Melotte 15 that are eroding away several picturesque dust pillars with
their atom-exciting energetic light and winds. The Heart Nebula is
located about 7,500 light years away toward the constellation of
Cassiopeia. This wide field image shows much more, though, including
the Fishhead Nebula just below the Heart, a supernova remnant on the
lower left, and three planetary nebulas on the image right. Taken over
57 nights, this image is so deep, though, that it clearly shows fainter
long and complex filaments.

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

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

2024 December 18
A dark starfield has an unusual galaxy in the center. This galaxy has a
spindle-like shape showing two dust lanes -- one running vertically and
one running diagonally from the upper left. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

NGC 660: Polar Ring Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

Explanation: What kind of strange galaxy is this? This rare structure
is known as a polar ring galaxy, and it seems to have two different
rings of stars. In this galaxy, NGC 660, one ring of bright stars, gas,
and dark dust appears nearly vertical, while another similar but
shorter ring runs diagonally from the upper left. How polar ring
galaxies obtain their striking appearance remains a topic of research,
but a leading theory holds that it is usually the result of two
galaxies with different central ring planes colliding. NGC 660 spans
about 50,000 light years and is located about 40 million light years
away toward the constellation of the Fish (Pisces). The featured image
was captured recently from Observatorio El Sauce in Chile.

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

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

2024 December 19

Messier 2
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, G. Piotto et al.

Explanation: After the Crab Nebula, this giant star cluster is the
second entry in 18th century astronomer Charles Messier's famous list
of things that are not comets. M2 is one of the largest globular star
clusters now known to roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though
Messier originally described it as a nebula without stars, this
stunning Hubble image resolves stars across the cluster's central 40
light-years. Its population of stars numbers close to 150,000,
concentrated within a total diameter of around 175 light-years. About
55,000 light-years distant toward the constellation Aquarius, this
ancient denizen of the Milky Way, also known as NGC 7089, is 13 billion
years old. An extended stellar debris stream, a signature of past
gravitational tidal disruption, was recently found to be associated
with Messier 2.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 20

The Long Night Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer and Dario Giannobile (Pictores
caeli)

Explanation: On the night of December 15, the Full Moon was bright.
Known to some as the Cold Moon or the Long Night Moon, it was the
closest Full Moon to the northern winter solstice and the last Full
Moon of 2024. This Full Moon was also at a major lunar standstill. A
major lunar standstill is an extreme in the monthly north-south range
of moonrise and moonset caused by the precession of the Moon's orbit
over an 18.6 year cycle. As a result, the full lunar phase was near the
Moon's northernmost moonrise (and moonset) along the horizon.
December's Full Moon is rising in this stacked image, a composite of
exposures recording the range of brightness visible to the eye on the
northern winter night. Along with a colorful lunar corona and aircraft
contrail this Long Night Moon shines in a cold sky above the rugged,
snowy peaks of the Italian Dolomites.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 22
An artist's illustration shows where our Sun resides relative to local
interstellar gas. The direction of motion of the Sun and local gas is
shown with arrows. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

The Local Fluff
Illustration Credit: NASA, SVS, Adler, U. Chicago, Wesleyan

Explanation: The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way
Galaxy, about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas called
the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform and shows
patchiness even near our Sun. It can be quite difficult to detect the
local ISM because it is so tenuous and emits so little light. This
mostly hydrogen gas, however, absorbs some very specific colors that
can be detected in the light of the nearest stars. A working map of the
local ISM within 20 light-years, based on ongoing observations and
particle detections from the Earth-orbiting Interstellar Boundary
Exporer satellite (IBEX), is shown here. These observations indicate
that our Sun is moving through a Local Interstellar Cloud as this cloud
flows outwards from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association star forming
region. Our Sun may exit the Local Cloud, also called the Local Fluff,
during the next 10,000 years. Much remains unknown about the local ISM,
including details of its distribution, its origin, and how it affects
the Sun and the Earth. Unexpectedly, IBEX spacecraft measurements
indicate that the direction from which neutral interstellar particles
flow through our Solar System is changing.

APOD Year in Review: Night Sky Network Presentation for 2024
Tomorrow's picture: sky tree
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 23
A star filled night sky is shown with aurora visible in blue, purple
and green. The aurora could be perceived to be a spruce tree, or even a
Christmas tree. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Christmas Tree Aurora
Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang

Explanation: It was December and the sky lit up like a Christmas tree.
Shimmering, the vivid green, blue, and purple auroral colors that
formed the tree-like apparition were caused by high atmospheric oxygen
and nitrogen reacting to a burst of incoming electrons. Collisions
caused the orbital electrons of atoms and molecules to jump into
excited energy states and emit visible light when returning to their
normal state. The featured image was captured in Dj+|pivogur, Iceland
during the last month of 2023. Our Sun is currently in its most
energetic phase of its 11-year cycle, with its high number of active
regions and sunspots likely to last into next year. Of course, the Sun
has been near solar maximum during this entire year, with its outbursts
sometimes resulting in spectacular Earthly auroras.

Image Processors: Take NASA's Astrophoto Challenge
Tomorrow's picture: star tree
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 24
A starfield filled with colorful gas and dark dust features a
cone-shaped nebula near the image top and nebular structure reminiscent
of the fur of a fox near the middle. A wide area of light emission
resembles the shape of a Christmas tree. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

Fox Fur, Cone, and Christmas Tree
Image Credit & Copyright: Tim White

Explanation: What do the following things have in common: a cone, the
fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the
constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). Considered as a star forming
region and cataloged as NGC 2264, the complex jumble of cosmic gas and
dust is about 2,700 light-years distant and mixes reddish emission
nebulae excited by energetic light from newborn stars with dark
interstellar dust clouds. The featured image spans an angle larger than
a full moon, covering over 50 light-years at the distance of NGC 2264.
Its cast of cosmic characters includes the Fox Fur Nebula, whose
convoluted pelt lies just to the left of the image center, bright
variable star S Mon visible just to the right of the Fox Fur, and the
Cone Nebula near the image top. With the Cone Nebula at the peak, the
shape of the general glow of the region give it the nickname of the
Christmas Tree Cluster, where stars are tree ornaments.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: sky eye
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 25
A snow covered road goes up a hill to a sky filled with stars. Arcs and
halos in the sky ahead appear similar to a giant eye. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Diamond Dust Sky Eye
Image Credit & Copyright: Jaroslav Fous

Explanation: Why is there a huge eye in the sky? Diamond dust. That is
an informal term for small ice crystals that form in the air and
flitter to the ground. Because these crystals are geometrically shaped,
they can together reflect light from the Sun or Moon to your eyes in a
systematic way, causing huge halos and unusual arcs to appear. And
sometimes, together the result can seem like a giant eye looking right
back at you. In the featured image taken in the Ore Mountains of the
Czech Republic last week, a bright Moon rising through ice fog-filled
air resulted in many of these magnificent sky illusions to be visible
simultaneously. Besides Moon dogs, tangent arcs, halos, and a parhelic
circle, light pillars above distant lights are visible on the far left,
while Jupiter and Mars can be found just inside the bottom of the
22-degree halo.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 26

Grand Spiral NGC 5643
Image Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASA

Explanation: Viewed face-on, grand spiral galaxy NGC 5643 has a festive
appearance in this colorful cosmic portrait. Some 55 million
light-years distant, the galaxy extends for over 100,000 light-years,
seen within the boundaries of the southern constellation Lupus. Its
inner 40,000 light-years are shown in sharp detail in this composite of
Hubble Space Telescope image data. The galaxy's magnificent spiral arms
wind from a yellowish central region dominated by light from old stars,
while the spiral arms themselves are traced by dust lanes, young blue
stars and reddish star forming regions. The bright compact core of NGC
5643 is also known as a strong emitter of radio waves and X-rays. In
fact, NGC 5643 is one of the closest examples of the Seyfert class of
active galaxies, where vast amounts of dust and gas are thought to be
falling into a central massive black hole.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 27

Planet Earth at Twilight
Image Credit: ISS Expedition 2 Crew, Gateway to Astronaut Photography
of Earth, NASA

Explanation: No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into
night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet
Earth. Instead, the shadow line or terminator is diffuse and shows the
gradual transition to darkness we experience as twilight. With the Sun
illuminating the scene from the right, the cloud tops reflect gently
reddened sunlight filtered through the dusty troposphere, the lowest
layer of the planet's nurturing atmosphere. A clear high altitude
layer, visible along the dayside's upper edge, scatters blue sunlight
and fades into the blackness of space. This picture was taken from the
International Space Station orbiting at an altitude of 211 nautical
miles. Of course from home, you can check out the Earth Now.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 28

A December Winter Night
Image Credit & Copyright: W+éodzimierz Bubak

Explanation: Orion seems to come up sideways, climbing over a distant
mountain range in this deep skyscape. The wintry scene was captured
from southern Poland on the northern hemisphere's long solstice night.
Otherwise unseen nebulae hang in the sky, revealed by the camera
modified to record red hydrogen-alpha light. The nebulae lie near the
edge of the Orion molecular cloud and join the Hunter's familiar belt
stars and bright giants Betelgeuse and Rigel. Eye of Taurus the Bull,
yellowish Aldebaran anchors the V-shaped Hyades star cluster near top
center. Still, near opposition in planet Earth's sky, the Solar
System's ruling gas giant Jupiter is the brightest celestial beacon
above this horizon's snowy peaks.

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

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

2024 December 29
A frozen lake is shown that appears quite blue. Many oval light-colored
bubbles are frozen into the ice, many times in columns. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal
Image Credit & Copyright: Kristina Makeeva

Explanation: What are these bubbles frozen into Lake Baikal? Methane.
Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Russia, is the world's
largest (by volume), oldest, and deepest lake, containing over 20% of
the world's fresh water. The lake is also a vast storehouse of methane,
a greenhouse gas that, if released, could potentially increase the
amount of infrared light absorbed by Earth's atmosphere, and so
increase the average temperature of the entire planet. Fortunately, the
amount of methane currently bubbling out is not climatologically
important. It is not clear what would happen, though, were temperatures
to significantly increase in the region, or if the water level in Lake
Baikal were to drop. Pictured, bubbles of rising methane froze during
winter into the exceptionally clear ice covering the lake.

Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: our sun's future
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 30
A starfield is shown with a frame dominated by a gaseous nebula. The
nebula, filled with structure, appears orange in the center but blue
around the edges. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

M27: The Dumbbell Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Stobie

Explanation: Is this what will become of our Sun? Quite possibly. The
first hint of our Sun's future was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At
that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not
to be confused with comets. The 27th object on Messier's list, now
known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula, is a planetary nebula, one of the
brightest planetary nebulas on the sky and visible with binoculars
toward the constellation of the Fox (Vulpecula). It takes light about
1000 years to reach us from M27, featured here in colors emitted by
sulfur (red), hydrogen (green) and oxygen (blue). We now know that in
about 6 billion years, our Sun will shed its outer gases into a
planetary nebula like M27, while its remaining center will become an
X-ray hot white dwarf star. Understanding the physics and significance
of M27 was well beyond 18th century science, though. Even today, many
things remain mysterious about planetary nebulas, including how their
intricate shapes are created.

APOD Year in Review: Night Sky Network Presentation for 2024
Tomorrow's picture: dark and twisted
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2024 December 31
A dark field shows an oblong orange glow with some dark and complex
dust lanes running through. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

The Twisted Disk of NGC 4753
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing: Alexander Reinartz

Explanation: What do you think this is? HereCÇÖs a clue: it's bigger than
a bread box. Much bigger. The answer is that pictured NGC 4753 is a
twisted disk galaxy, where unusual dark dust filaments provide clues
about its history. No one is sure what happened, but a leading model
holds that a relatively normal disk galaxy gravitationally ripped apart
a dusty satellite galaxy while its precession distorted the plane of
the accreted debris as it rotated. The cosmic collision is hypothesized
to have started about a billion years ago. NGC 4753 is seen from the
side, and possibly would look like a normal spiral galaxy from the top.
The bright orange halo is composed of many older stars that might trace
dark matter. The featured Hubble image was recently reprocessed to
highlight ultraviolet and red-light emissions.

APOD Year in Review: NASA Night Sky Network Presentation for 2024
Tomorrow's picture: nearby triple
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2025 January 1
A star field is filled with red-glowing gas. Near the center is a
bright star system Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our Sun.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Alpha Centauri: The Closest Star System
Image Credit & Copyright: Telescope Live, Heaven's Mirror Observatory;
Processing: Chris Cantrell

Explanation: The closest star system to the Sun is the Alpha Centauri
system. Of the three stars in the system, the dimmest -- called Proxima
Centauri -- is actually the nearest star. The bright stars Alpha
Centauri A and B form a close binary as they are separated by only 23
times the Earth- Sun distance - slightly greater than the distance
between Uranus and the Sun. The Alphasystem
is not visible in much of the northern hemisphere. Alpha Centauri A,
also known as Rigil Kentaurus, is the brightest star in the
constellation of Centaurus and is the fourth brightest star in the
night sky. Sirius is the brightest even though it is more than twice as
far away. By an exciting coincidence, Alpha Centauri A is the same type
of star as our Sun, and Proxima Centauri is now known to have a
potentially habitable exoplanet.

Tomorrow's picture: 2024 in the sun
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 January 2

Solar Analemma 2024
Image Credit & Copyright: Betul Turksoy

Explanation: Recorded during 2024, this year-spanning series of images
reveals a pattern in the seasonal drift of the Sun's daily motion
through planet Earth's sky. Known to some as an analemma, the
figure-eight curve was captured in exposures taken only at 1pm local
time on clear days from Kayseri, Turkiye. Of course the Sun's position
on the 2024 solstice dates was at the top and bottom of the curve. They
correspond to the astronomical beginning of summer and winter in the
north. The points along the curve half-way between the solstices, but
not the figure-eight curve crossing point, mark the 2024 equinoxes and
the start of spring and fall. Regional peaks and dormant volcano Mount
Erciyes lie along the southern horizon in the 2024 timelapse skyscape.

Tomorrow's picture: eclipse pair
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2025 January 3

Eclipse Pair
Image Credit & Copyright: Josh Dury

Explanation: Eclipses tend to come in pairs. Twice a year, during an
eclipse season that lasts about 34 days, Sun, Moon, and Earth can
nearly align. Then the full and new phases of the Moon, separated by
just over 14 days, create a lunar and a solar eclipse. But only rarely
is the alignment at both new moon and full moon phases during a single
eclipse season close enough to produce a pair with both total (or a
total and an annular) lunar and solar eclipses. More often, partial
eclipses are part of any eclipse season. In fact, the last eclipse
season of 2024 produced this fortnight-separated eclipse pair: a
partial lunar eclipse on 18 September and an annular solar eclipse on 2
October. The time-lapse composite images were captured from Somerset,
UK (left) and Rapa Nui planet Earth. The 2025 eclipse seasons will see
a total lunar eclipse on 14 March paired with a partial solar eclipse
on 29 March, and a total lunar eclipse on 8 September followed by a
partial solar eclipse on 21 September.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2025 January 4

Welcome to Perihelion
Image Credit & Copyright: Peter Ward (Barden Ridge Observatory)

Explanation: Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a circle, it's an
ellipse. The point along its elliptical orbit where our fair planet is
closest to the Sun is called perihelion. This year perihelion is today,
January 4, at 13:28 UTC, with the Earth about 147 million kilometers
from the Sun. For comparison, at aphelion on last July 3 Earth was at
its farthest distance from the Sun, some 152 million kilometers away.
But distance from the Sun doesn't determine Earth's seasons. It's only
by coincidence that the beginning of southern summer (northern winter)
on the December solstice - when this H-alpha picture of the active Sun
was taken - is within 14 days of Earth's perihelion date. And it's only
by coincidence that Earth's perihelion date is within 11 days of the
historic perihelion of NASA's Parker Solar Probe. Launched in 2018, the
Parker Solar Probe flew within 6.2 million kilometers of the Sun's
surface on 2024 December 24, breaking its own record for closest
perihelion for a spacecraft from planet Earth.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 January 5

Rocket Launch as Seen from the International Space Station
Video Credit: ISAA, NASA, Expedition 57 Crew (ISS);
Processing: Riccardo Rossi (ISAA, AstronautiCAST); Music: Inspiring
Adventure Cinematic Background by Maryna

Explanation: Have you ever seen a rocket launch -- from space? A close
inspection of the featured time-lapse video will reveal a rocket rising
to Earth orbit as seen from the International Space Station (ISS). The
Russian Soyuz-FG rocket was launched in November 2018 from the Baikonur
Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying a Progress MS-10 (also 71P) module
to bring needed supplies to the ISS. Highlights in the 90-second video
(condensing about 15-minutes) include city lights and clouds visible on
the Earth on the lower left, blue and gold bands of atmospheric airglow
running diagonally across the center, and distant stars on the upper
right that set behind the Earth. A lower stage can be seen falling back
to Earth as the robotic supply ship fires its thrusters and begins to
close on the ISS, a space laboratory that celebrated its 25th
anniversary in 2023. Astronauts who live aboard the Earth-orbiting ISS
conduct, among more practical duties, numerous science experiments that
expand human knowledge and enable future commercial industry in low
Earth orbit.

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

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

2025 January 6
Two spiral galaxies are pictured on the left and right. They galaxy on
the left is smaller. Both show red lanes of dust in their spiral arms.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Colliding Spiral Galaxies from Webb and Hubble
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Explanation: Billions of years from now, only one of these two galaxies
will remain. Until then, spiral galaxies NGC 2207 and IC 2163 will
slowly pull each other apart, creating tides of matter, sheets of
shocked gas, lanes of dark dust, bursts of star formation, and streams
of cast-away stars. The featured image in scientifically assigned
colors is a composite of Hubble exposures in visible light and Webb
exposures in infrared light. Astronomers predict that NGC 2207, the
larger galaxy on the right, will eventually incorporate IC 2163, the
smaller galaxy on the left. In the most recent encounter that about
peaked 40 million years ago, the smaller galaxy is swinging around
counter-clockwise and is now slightly behind the larger galaxy. The
space between stars is so vast that when galaxies collide, the stars in
them usually do not collide.

Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: double red sky
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 January 7
A star field appears above a town at night. The left part of the sky
shows a pinkish-red glow that is an aurora, while the right part of the
sky shows a smoother and darker glow that is a SAR arc. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

A New Year's Aurora and SAR Arc
Image Credit & Copyright: Alessandra Masi

Explanation: It was a new year, and the sky was doubly red. The new
year meant that the Earth had returned to its usual place in its orbit
on January 1, a place a few days before its closest approach to the
Sun. The first of the two red skyglows, on the left, was a red aurora,
complete with vertical rays, caused by a blast from the Sun pushing
charged particles into Earth's atmosphere. The second red glow, most
prominent on the far right, was possibly a SAR arc caused by a river of
charged particles flowing across Earth's atmosphere. Although both
appear red, the slight color difference is likely due to the aurora
being emitted by both oxygen and nitrogen, whereas the higher SAR arc
was possibly emitted more purely by atmospheric oxygen. The featured
image was taken on January 1 from near Pieve di Cadore in Italy.

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

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

2025 January 8
A star field appears that has several nebulas. Toward the upper left is
a angularly small supernova remnant colored blue, while dominating the
lower right is a large supernova remnant in both red and blue. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Supernova Remnants Big and Small
Image Credit & Copyright: St+¬phane Vetter (Nuits sacr+¬es)

Explanation: What happens after a star explodes? A huge fireball of hot
gas shoots out in all directions. When this gas slams into the existing
interstellar medium, it heats up so much it glows. Two different
supernova remnants (SNRs) are visible in the featured image, taken at
the Ouka+»meden Observatory in Morocco. The blue soccer ball-looking
nebula toward the upper left is SNR G179.0+02.6, which appears to be
the smaller one. This supernova, about 11,000 light years distant,
detonated about 50,000 years ago. Although composed mostly of hydrogen
gas, the blue light is emitted by a trace amount of oxygen. The
seemingly larger SNR, dominating the lower right of the frame, is the
Spaghetti Nebula, cataloged as Simeis 147 and sh2-240. This supernova,
only about 3,000 light years away, exploded about 40,000 years ago.
Comparatively, even though they appear different sizes, both supernova
remnants are not only roughly the same age, but about the same size,
too.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 January 9

Peculiar Galaxies of Arp 273
Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Doctor

Explanation: The colorful, spiky stars are in the foreground of this
image taken with a small telescope on planet Earth. They lie well
within our own Milky Way Galaxy. But the two eye-catching galaxies in
the frame lie far beyond the Milky Way, at a distance of over 300
million light-years. The galaxies' twisted and distorted appearance is
due to mutual gravitational tides as the pair engage in close
encounters. Cataloged as Arp 273 (also as UGC 1810), these galaxies do
look peculiar, but interacting galaxies are now understood to be common
in the universe. Closer to home, the large spiral Andromeda Galaxy is
known to be some 2 million light-years away and inexorably approaching
the Milky Way. In fact the far away peculiar galaxies of Arp 273 may
offer an analog of the far future encounter of Andromeda and Milky Way.
Repeated galaxy encounters on a cosmic timescale ultimately result in a
merger into a single galaxy of stars. From our perspective, the bright
cores of the Arp 273 galaxies are separated by only a little over
100,000 light-years.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 January 10

Young Stars, Dark Nebulae
Image Credit & Copyright: Long Xin

Explanation: An unassuming region in the constellation Taurus holds
these dark and dusty nebulae. Scattered through the scene, stars in
multiple star systems are forming within their natal Taurus molecular
cloud complex some 450 light-years away. Millions of years young and
still going through stellar adolescence, the stars are variable in
brightness and in the late phases of their gravitational collapse.
Known as T-Tauri class stars they tend to be faint and take on a
yellowish hue in the image. One of the brightest T-Tauri stars in
Taurus, V773 (aka HD283447) is near the center of the telescopic frame
that spans over 1 degree. Toward the top is the dense, dark marking on
the sky cataloged as Barnard 209.

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

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 January 11

An Evening Sky Full of Planets
Image Credit & Copyright: Dario Giannobile

Explanation: Only Mercury is missing from a Solar System parade of
planets in this early evening skyscape. Rising nearly opposite the Sun,
bright Mars is at the far left. The other naked-eye planets Jupiter,
Saturn, and Venus, can also be spotted, with the the position of
too-faint Uranus and Neptune marked near the arcing trace of the
ecliptic plane. On the far right and close to the western horizon after
sunset is a young crescent Moon whose surface is partly illuminated by
earthshine. In the foreground of the composite panorama captured on 2
January, planet Earth is represented by Mount Etna's lower Silvestri
Crater. Of course Earth's early evening skies are full of planets for
the entire month of January. On 13 January, a nearly Full Moon will
appear to pass in front of Mars for skywatchers in the continental U.S.
and Eastern Canada.

Tomorrow's picture: small moon, big crater
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2025 January 12
A cratered object is shown that shows on really large crater on its
right side. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Mimas: Small Moon with a Big Crater
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Space Science Institute, Cassini

Explanation: Whatever hit Mimas nearly destroyed it. What remains is
one of the largest impact craters on one of Saturn's smallest round
moons. Analysis indicates that a slightly larger impact would have
destroyed Mimas entirely. The huge crater, named Herschel after the
1789 discoverer of Mimas, Sir William Herschel, spans about 130
kilometers and is featured here. Mimas' low mass produces a surface
gravity just strong enough to create a spherical body but weak enough
to allow such relatively large surface features. Mimas is made of
mostly water ice with a smattering of rock - so it is accurately
described as a big dirty snowball. The featured image was taken during
the closest-ever flyby of the robot spacecraft Cassini past Mimas in
2010 while in orbit around Saturn.

Interactive: Take a trek across Mimas
January 14: Zoom APOD Lecture hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of
Association of New York
Tomorrow's picture: do north
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2025 January 13
A morning sky is shown about a line of trees. In the sky is a faint
comet. The comet is shown in better detailed in an inset image on the
upper left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet ATLAS Before Sunrise
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horalek / Institute of Physics in Opava

Explanation: Comet ATLAS is really bright now, but also really close to
the Sun. Outside the glow of the Sun, Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) would be
one of the more remarkable comet sights of recent years, reflecting
about as much sunlight to Earth as Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS did in
October, and now rivaling even planet Venus. But the giant snowball is
now so close to the Sun that it can only be seen through the light of
the early morning dawn or the early evening dusk. Today, Comet ATLAS is
at perihelion -- its closest ever to the Sun. Although the future
brightness of comets is notoriously hard to predict, there is hope that
Comet ATLAS will survive its close pass near the Sun and remain bright
enough to be seen with the unaided eye over the next few days -- and
possibly a good camera comet for weeks. The featured image was taken
early yesterday morning near Torna-'a, Slovakia.

Tomorrow: Zoom APOD Lecture hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of
Association of New York
Tomorrow's picture: do north
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2025 January 14
A bright star is pictured in the center of field filled with glowing
gas and dust and other, more faint, stars. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

North Star: Polaris and Surrounding Dust
Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Coverta

Explanation: Why is Polaris called the North Star? First, Polaris is
the nearest bright star toward the north spin axis of the Earth.
Therefore, as the Earth turns, stars appear to revolve around Polaris,
but Polaris itself always stays in the same northerly direction --
making it the North Star. Since no bright star is near the south spin
axis of the Earth, there is currently no bright South Star. Thousands
of years ago, Earth's spin axis pointed in a slightly different
direction so that Vega was the North Star. Although Polaris is not the
brightest star on the sky, it is easily located because it is nearly
aligned with two stars in the cup of the Big Dipper. Polaris is near
the center of the five-degree wide featured image, a digital composite
of hundreds of exposures that brings out faint gas and dust of the
Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) all over the frame. The surface of Cepheid
Polaris slowly pulsates, causing the famous star to change its
brightness by a few percent over the course of a few days.

Today: Zoom APOD Lecture hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of
Association of New York
Tomorrow's picture: north nebula
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2025 January 15
Earth's moon is shown in full phase. At the top of the frame, appearing
much smaller, is the more distant planet Mars. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Wolf Moon Engulfs Mars
Image Credit & Copyright: Imran Sultan

Explanation: Does the Moon ever engulf Mars? Yes, but only in the sense
that it moves in front, which happens on rare occasions. This happened
just yesterday, though, as seen from some locations in North America
and western Africa. This occultation was notable not only because the
Moon was a fully lit Wolf Moon, but because Mars was near its largest
and brightest, moving to opposition -- the closest to the Earth in its
orbit -- only tomorrow. The engulfing, more formally called an
occultation, typically lasting about an hour. The featured image was
taken from near Chicago, Illinois, USA just as Earth's largest
satellite was angularly moving away from the much more distant red
planet. Our Moon occasionally moves in front of all of the Solar
System's planets. Given the temporary alignment of orbital planes, the
next time our Moon eclipses Mars will be a relatively soon February 9.

Growing Gallery: Moon-Mars Occultation in January 2025
Tomorrow's picture: galactic pinwheel
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2025 January 16

M83: The Southern Pinwheel
Image Credit: CTIO, NOIRLab, DOE, NSF, AURA;
Processing: T. A. Rector (U. Alaska Anchorage/NOIRLab), D. de Martin &
M. Zamani (NOIRLab)

Explanation: Beautiful and bright spiral galaxy M83 lies a some twelve
million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very long
constellation Hydra. Prominent spiral arms traced by dark dust lanes
and blue star clusters lend this galaxy its popular name, The Southern
Pinwheel. Still, reddish star forming regions that dot this cosmic
pinwheel's spiral arms have suggested another nickname, the
Thousand-Ruby Galaxy. A mere 40,000 light-years across, smaller than
the Milky Way, M83 is a member of a group of galaxies that includes
active galaxy Centaurus A. In fact, the core of M83 itself is bright at
x-ray energies, showing a high concentration of neutron stars and black
holes left from an intense burst of star formation. This sharp color
image also features spiky foreground Milky Way stars and distant
background galaxies. The image data was captured with the Dark Energy
Camera and Blanco 4-meter telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American
Observatory.

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

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

2025 January 17

Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; D. Milisavljevic (Purdue
University), T. Temim (Princeton University), I. De Looze (University
of Gent)

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.

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

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

2025 January 18

Full Moon, Full Mars
Image Credit & Copyright: David Bowman

Explanation: On January 13 a Full Moon and a Full Mars were close, both
bright and opposite the Sun in planet Earth's sky. In fact Mars was
occulted, passing behind the Moon, when viewed from some locations in
North America and northwest Africa. As seen from Richmond, Virginia,
USA, this composite image sequence follows the evening lunar
occultation before, during, and after the much anticipated celestial
spectacle. The telescopic time series is constructed from an exposure
made every two minutes while tracking the Moon over the hours
encompassing the event. As a result, the Red Planet's trajectory seems
to follow a gently curved path due to the Moon's slightly different
rate of apparent motion. The next lunar occultation of bright planet
Mars will be on February 9 when the moon is in a waxing gibbous phase.
Lunar occultations are only ever visible from a fraction of the Earth's
surface, though. The February 9 occultation of Mars will be seen from
parts of Russia, China, eastern Canada, Greenland and other (mostly
northern) locations, but a close conjunction of a bright Moon with Mars
will be more widely visible from planet Earth.

Growing Gallery: Moon-Mars Occultation in January 2025
Tomorrow's picture: Touchdown!
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2025 January 19

Titan Touchdown: Huygens Descent Movie
Video Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, E. Karkoschka

Explanation: What would it look like to land on Saturn's moon Titan?
The European Space Agency's Huygens probe set down on the Solar
System's cloudiest moon in 2005, and a time-lapse video of its descent
images was created. Huygens separated from the robotic Cassini
spacecraft soon after it achieved orbit around Saturn in late 2004 and
began approaching Titan. For two hours after arriving, Huygens
plummeted toward Titan's surface, recording at first only the shrouded
moon's opaque atmosphere. The computerized truck-tire sized probe soon
deployed a parachute to slow its descent, pierced the thick clouds, and
began transmitting images of a strange surface far below never before
seen in visible light. Landing in a dried sea and surviving for 90
minutes, Huygen's returned unique images of a strange plain of dark
sandy soil strewn with smooth, bright, fist-sized rocks of ice.

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

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 January 20
A comet is seen near the top of the image. The comet has several tails
visible, some being white but others having different colors. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Comet ATLAS Rounds the Sun
Image Credit: NASA, SOHO Spacecraft, LASCO C3; Processing: Rolando
Ligustri

Explanation: Why does Comet ATLAS have such colorful tails? Last week
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) passed its closest to the Sun -- well inside
the orbit of Mercury -- and brightened dramatically. Unfortunately, the
comet was then so angularly near the Sun that it was very hard for
humans to see. But NASA's SOHO spacecraft saw it. Pictured is a SOHO
(LASCO C3) image of Comet ATLAS that is a composite of several
different color filters. Of the several tails visible, the central
white tails are likely made of dust and just reflecting back sunlight.
The red, blue, and green tails are likely ion tails with their colors
dominated by light emitted by specific gases that were ejected from the
comet and energized by the Sun. Currently, Comet ATLAS is showing long
tails in southern skies but fading as it moves out of the inner Solar
System.

Growing Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)
Tomorrow's picture: long tails
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2025 January 21
The buildings of a city are seen past a dark waterway. Over the city
are some dark clouds and above that, blue sky. In the blue sky, partly
obscured by some of the clouds, is a comet with a very long tail,
running from the middle to the top of the frame. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Comet ATLAS over Bras+¡lia
Image Credit: Frederico Danin

Explanation: What's that in the sky? Above the city, above most clouds,
far in the distance: it's a comet. Pictured, the impressive tail of
Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) was imaged from Bras+¡lia, Brazil four days ago.
Last week the evolving comet rounded the Sun well inside the orbit of
planet Mercury, going so close there was early concern that it might
break up -- and recent evidence that it really did. At one point near
perihelion, Comet ATLAS was so bright that sightings were even reported
during the day -- over the bright sky near the Sun -- by careful
observers. Over the past few days, Comet ATLAS has developed a long
tail that has been partly visible with unaided eyes after sunset, most
notably in Earth's southern hemisphere.

Growing Gallery: Comet ATLAS (G3)
Tomorrow's picture: up north
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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