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 May 2

M100: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Drew Evans

Explanation: Majestic on a truly cosmic scale, M100 is appropriately
known as a grand design spiral galaxy. The large galaxy of over 100
billion stars has well-defined spiral arms, similar to our own Milky
Way. One of the brightest members of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies,
M100, also known as NGC 4321 is 56 million light-years distant toward
the well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. In this telescopic
image, the face-on grand design spiral shares a nearly 1 degree wide
field-of-view with slightly less conspicuous edge-on spiral NGC 4312
(at upper right). The 21 hour long equivalent exposure from a dark sky
site near Flagstaff, Arizona, planet Earth, reveals M100's bright blue
star clusters and intricate winding dust lanes which are hallmarks of
this class of galaxies. Measurements of variable stars in M100 have
played an important role in determining the size and age of the
Universe.

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

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

2024 May 3

Temperatures on Exoplanet WASP-43b
Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Science: Taylor Bell (BAERI), Joanna Barstow (The Open University),
Michael Roman (University of Leicester)

Explanation: A mere 280 light-years from Earth, tidally locked,
Jupiter-sized exoplanet WASP-43b orbits its parent star once every 0.8
Earth days. That puts it about 2 million kilometers (less than 1/25th
the orbital distance of Mercury) from a small, cool sun. Still, on a
dayside always facing its parent star, temperatures approach a torrid
2,500 degrees F as measured at infrared wavelengths by the MIRI
instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope. In this
illustration of the hot exoplanet's orbit, Webb measurements also show
nightside temperatures remain above 1,000 degrees F. That suggests that
strong equatorial winds circulate the dayside atmospheric gases to the
nightside before they can completely cool off. Exoplanet WASP-43b is
now formally known as Astrol+øbos, and its K-type parent star has been
christened Gnomon. Webb's infrared spectra indicate water vapor is
present on the nightside as well as the dayside of the planet,
providing information about cloud cover on Astrol+øbos.

Tomorrow's picture: a new hope
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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,
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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 May 4

3 ATs
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas
Observatory, TWAN)

Explanation: Despite their resemblance to R2D2, these three are not the
droids you're looking for. Instead, the enclosures house 1.8 meter
Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) at Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert
region of Chile. The ATs are designed to be used for interferometry, a
technique for achieving extremely high resolution observations, in
concert with the observatory's 8 meter Very Large Telescope units. A
total of four ATs are operational, each fitted with a transporter that
moves the telescope along a track allowing different arrays with the
large unit telescopes. To work as an interferometer, the light from
each telescope is brought to a common focal point by a system of
mirrors in underground tunnels. Above these three ATs, the Large and
Small Magellanic Clouds are the far, far away satellite galaxies of our
own Milky Way. In the clear and otherwise dark southern skies, planet
Earth's greenish atmospheric airglow stretches faintly along the
horizon.

Tomorrow's picture: death by black hole
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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 May 5
An illustration shows a small black dot in the center which is a black
hole. A red stream or gas arcs in from the top. The black hole is also
surrounded by a dark and dusty disk. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

A Black Hole Disrupts a Passing Star
Illustration Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech

Explanation: What happens to a star that goes near a black hole? If the
star directly impacts a massive black hole, then the star falls in
completely -- and everything vanishes. More likely, though, the star
goes close enough to have the black hole's gravity pull away its outer
layers, or disrupt, the star. Then, most of the star's gas does not
fall into the black hole. These stellar tidal disruption events can be
as bright as a supernova, and an increasing amount of them are being
discovered by automated sky surveys. In the featured artist's
illustration, a star has just passed a massive black hole and sheds gas
that continues to orbit. The inner edge of a disk of gas and dust
surrounding the black hole is heated by the disruption event and may
glow long after the star is gone.

Hole New Worlds: It's Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: ringing out the sun
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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 May 6

A Total Solar Eclipse from Sliver to Ring
Video Credit & Copyright: Reinhold Wittich; Music: Sunrise from Also
sprach Zarathusra (R. Strauss) by Sascha Ende

Explanation: This is how the Sun disappeared from the daytime sky last
month. The featured time-lapse video was created from stills taken from
Mountain View, Arkansas, USA on 2024 April 8. First, a small sliver of
a normally spotted Sun went strangely dark. Within a few minutes, much
of the background Sun was hidden behind the advancing foreground Moon.
Within an hour, the only rays from the Sun passing the Moon appeared
like a diamond ring. During totality, most of the surrounding sky went
dark, making the bright pink prominences around the Sun's edge stand
out, and making the amazing corona appear to spread into the
surrounding sky. The central view of the corona shows an accumulation
of frames taken during complete totality. As the video ends, just a few
minutes later, another diamond ring appeared -- this time on the other
side of the Moon. Within the next hour, the sky returned to normal.

Celebrate the Voids: It's Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: black hole
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 7
A swirling blue disk is illustrated with a deep colorful indentation in
the middle. A light colored jet shoots out of this middle, from a small
dot that is a black hole. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Black Hole Accreting with Jet
Illustration Credit: NASA, Swift, Aurore Simonnet (Sonoma State U.)

Explanation: What happens when a black hole devours a star? Many
details remain unknown, but observations are providing new clues. In
2014, a powerful explosion was recorded by the ground-based robotic
telescopes of the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (Project
ASAS-SN), with followed-up observations by instruments including NASA's
Earth-orbiting Swift satellite. Computer modeling of these emissions
fit a star being ripped apart by a distant supermassive black hole. The
results of such a collision are portrayed in the featured artistic
illustration. The black hole itself is a depicted as a tiny black dot
in the center. As matter falls toward the hole, it collides with other
matter and heats up. Surrounding the black hole is an accretion disk of
hot matter that used to be the star, with a jet emanating from the
black hole's spin axis.

Fall towards eternity: It's Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: space, distorted
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 8

Visualization: A Black Hole Accretion Disk
Visualization Credit: NASAC╟╓s Goddard Space Flight Center, Jeremy
Schnittman

Explanation: What would it look like to circle a black hole? If the
black hole was surrounded by a swirling disk of glowing and accreting
gas, then the great gravity of the black hole would deflect light
emitted by the disk to make it look very unusual. The featured animated
video gives a visualization. The video starts with you, the observer,
looking toward the black hole from just above the plane of the
accretion disk. Surrounding the central black hole is a thin circular
image of the orbiting disk that marks the position of the photon sphere
-- inside of which lies the black hole's event horizon. Toward the
left, parts of the large main image of the disk appear brighter as they
move toward you. As the video continues, you loop over the black hole,
soon looking down from the top, then passing through the disk plane on
the far side, then returning to your original vantage point. The
accretion disk does some interesting image inversions -- but never
appears flat. Visualizations such as this are particularly relevant
today as black holes are being imaged in unprecedented detail by the
Event Horizon Telescope.

Singularity Impressive: It's Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: famous black hole
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 9

The Galaxy, the Jet, and a Famous Black Hole
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration

Explanation: Bright elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (M87) is home to the
supermassive black hole captured in 2017 by planet Earth's Event
Horizon Telescope in the first ever image of a black hole. Giant of the
Virgo galaxy cluster about 55 million light-years away, M87 is rendered
in blue hues in this infrared image from the Spitzer Space telescope.
Though M87 appears mostly featureless and cloud-like, the Spitzer image
does record details of relativistic jets blasting from the galaxy's
central region. Shown in the inset at top right, the jets themselves
span thousands of light-years. The brighter jet seen on the right is
approaching and close to our line of sight. Opposite, the shock created
by the otherwise unseen receding jet lights up a fainter arc of
material. Inset at bottom right, the historic black hole image is shown
in context at the center of giant galaxy, between the relativistic
jets. Completely unresolved in the Spitzer image, the supermassive
black hole surrounded by infalling material is the source of enormous
energy driving the relativistic jets from the center of active galaxy
M87. The Event Horizon Telescope image of M87 has been enhanced to
reveal a sharper view of the famous supermassive black hole.

It's inescapable: Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in spacetime
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 10

Simulation: Two Black Holes Merge
Simulation Credit: Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes Project

Explanation: Relax and watch two black holes merge. Inspired by the
first direct detection of gravitational waves in 2015, this simulation
plays in slow motion but would take about one third of a second if run
in real time. Set on a cosmic stage, the black holes are posed in front
of stars, gas, and dust. Their extreme gravity lenses the light from
behind them into Einstein rings as they spiral closer and finally merge
into one. The otherwise invisible gravitational waves generated as the
massive objects rapidly coalesce cause the visible image to ripple and
slosh both inside and outside the Einstein rings even after the black
holes have merged. Dubbed GW150914, the gravitational waves detected by
LIGO are consistent with the merger of 36 and 31 solar mass black holes
at a distance of 1.3 billion light-years. The final, single black hole
has 63 times the mass of the Sun, with the remaining 3 solar masses
converted into energy radiated in gravitational waves.

Today's Event Horizon: It's Black Hole Week at NASA!
Tomorrow's picture: What's 42-5?
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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 May 11
The Sun is shown in black and white showing dark sunspots on the far
right. The large sunspot group is expanded in an inset image at the
bottom left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

AR 3664: Giant Sunspot Group
Image Credit & Copyright: Franco Fantasia & Guiseppe Conzo (Gruppo
Astrofili Palidoro)

Explanation: Right now, one of the largest sunspot groups in recent
history is crossing the Sun. Active Region 3664 is not only big -- it's
violent, throwing off clouds of particles into the Solar System. Some
of these CMEs are already impacting the Earth, and others might follow.
At the extreme, these solar storms could cause some Earth-orbiting
satellites to malfunction, the Earth's atmosphere to slightly distort,
and electrical power grids to surge. When impacting Earth's upper
atmosphere, these particles can produce beautiful auroras, with some
auroras already being reported unusually far south. Pictured here,
AR3664 and its dark sunspots were captured yesterday in visible light
from Rome, Italy. The AR3664 sunspot group is so large that it is
visible just with glasses designed to view last month's total solar
eclipse. This weekend, skygazing enthusiasts will be keenly watching
the night skies all over the globe for bright and unusual auroras.

Gallery: Active Region 6443 on the Sun
Tomorrow's picture: active sky
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 May 12
Red and purple aurora appear over a field in Poland. A tree is seen to
the right, and a person stands in the distance holding a glowing phone.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Red Aurora over Poland
Image Credit & Copyright: Mariusz Durlej

Explanation: Northern lights don't usually reach this far south.
Magnetic chaos in the Sun's huge Active Region 3664, however, produced
a surface explosion that sent a burst of electrons, protons, and more
massive, charged nuclei into the Solar System. A few days later, that
coronal mass ejection (CME) impacted the Earth and triggered auroras
that are being reported unusually far from our planet's north and south
poles. The free sky show might not be over -- the sunspot rich AR3664
has ejected even more CMEs that might also impact the Earth tonight or
tomorrow. That active region is now near the Sun's edge, though, and
will soon be rotating away from the Earth. Pictured, a red and rayed
aurora was captured in a single 6-second exposure from Racib+|rz, Poland
early last night. The photographer's friend, seeing an aurora for the
first time, is visible in the distance also taking images of the
beautifully colorful nighttime sky.

Gallery: Global Aurora from Solar Active Region 6443
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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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 May 13
A distant Sun is seen over water and between foreground trees. On the
lower part of the Sun is the gigantic active region AR 3664 visible by
its dark sunspots. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

AR 3664 on a Setting Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Marco Meniero

Explanation: It was larger than the Earth. It was so big you could
actually see it on the Sun's surface without magnification. It
contained powerful and tangled magnetic fields as well as numerous dark
sunspots. Labelled AR 3664, it developed into one of the most energetic
areas seen on the Sun in recent years, unleashing a series of
explosions that led to a surge of energetic particles striking the
Earth, which created beautiful auroras. And might continue. Although
active regions on the Sun like AR 3664 can be quite dangerous, this
region's Coronal Mass Ejections have not done, as yet, much damage to
Earth-orbiting satellites or Earth-surface electrical grids. Pictured,
the enormous active region was captured on the setting Sun a few days
ago from Civitavecchia, Rome, Italy. The composite image includes a
very short exposure taken of just the Sun's surface, but mimics what
was actually visible. Finally, AR 3664 is now rotating away from the
Earth, although the region may survive long enough to come around
again.

Gallery: Earth Aurora from Solar Active Region 6443
Tomorrow's picture: What is 42 - 5?
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

2024 May 14

The 37 Cluster
Image Credit & Copyright: Sergio Eguivar

Explanation: For the mostly harmless denizens of planet Earth, the
brighter stars of open cluster NGC 2169 seem to form a cosmic 37. Did
you expect 42? From our perspective, the improbable numerical asterism
appears solely by chance. It lies at an estimated distance of 3,300
light-years toward the constellation Orion. As far as galactic or open
star clusters go, NGC 2169 is a small one, spanning about 7
light-years. Formed at the same time from the same cloud of dust and
gas, the stars of NGC 2169 are only about 11 million years old. Such
clusters are expected to disperse over time as they encounter other
stars, interstellar clouds, and experience gravitational tides while
hitchhiking through the galaxy. Over four billion years ago, our own
Sun was likely formed in a similar open cluster of stars.

Gallery: Earth Aurora from Solar Active Region 3664
Tomorrow's picture: green space arch
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 15
Part of the Sun is pictured, oriented as the right edge. The surface is
textured like a carpet. Over the edge a long multi-pronged prominence
stands out. Behind the Sun is the darkness of space. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

AR 3664 at the Sun's Edge
Image Credit & Copyright: Sebastian Voltmer

Explanation: What did the monster active region that created the recent
auroras look like when at the Sun's edge? There, AR 3664 better showed
its 3D structure. Pictured, a large multi-pronged solar prominence was
captured extending from chaotic sunspot region AR 3664 out into space,
just one example of the particle clouds ejected from this violent solar
region. The Earth could easily fit under this long-extended prominence.
The featured image was captured two days ago from this constantly
changing region. Yesterday, the strongest solar flare in years was
expelled (not shown), a blast classified in the upper X-class.
Ultraviolet light from that flare quickly hit the Earth's atmosphere
and caused shortwave radio blackouts across both North and South
America. Although now rotated to be facing slightly away from the
Earth, particles from AR 3664 and subsequent coronal mass ejections
(CMEs) might still follow curved magnetic field lines across the inner
Solar System and create more Earthly auroras.

Gallery: Earth Aurora from Solar Active Region 6443
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 May 16

Aurora Georgia
Image Credit & Copyright: Wright Dobbs

Explanation: A familiar sight from Georgia, USA, the Moon sets near the
western horizon in this rural night skyscape. Captured on May 10 before
local midnight, the image overexposes the Moon's bright waning crescent
at left in the frame. A long irrigation rig stretches across farmland
about 15 miles north of the city of Bainbridge. Shimmering curtains of
aurora shine across the starry sky, definitely an unfamiliar sight for
southern Georgia nights. Last weekend, extreme geomagnetic storms
triggered by the recent intense activity from solar active region AR
3664 brought epic displays of aurora, usually seen closer to the poles,
to southern Georgia and even lower latitudes on planet Earth. As solar
activity ramps up, more storms are possible.

AuroraSaurus: Report your aurora observations
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility Notices
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 May 17

Aurora Banks Peninsula
Image Credit & Copyright: Kavan Chay

Explanation: This well-composed composite panoramic view looks due
south from Banks Peninsula near Christchurch on New Zealand's South
Island. The base of a tower-like rocky sea stack is awash in the
foreground, with stars of the Southern Cross at the top of the frame
and planet Earth's south celestial pole near center. Still, captured on
May 11, vibrant aurora australis dominate the starry southern sea and
skyscape. The shimmering southern lights were part of extensive auroral
displays that entertained skywatchers in northern and southern
hemispheres around planet Earth, caused by intense geomagnetic storms.
The extreme spaceweather was triggered by the impact of coronal mass
ejections launched from powerful solar active region AR 3664.

AuroraSaurus: Report your aurora observations
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility Notices
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 May 18

North Celestial Aurora
Image Credit & Copyright: Chirag Upreti

Explanation: Graceful star trail arcs reflect planet Earth's daily
rotation in this colorful night skyscape. To create the timelapse
composite, on May 12 consecutive exposures were recorded with a camera
fixed to a tripod on the shores of the Ashokan Reservoir, in the
Catskills region of New York, USA. North star Polaris is near the
center of the star trail arcs. The broad trail of a waxing crescent
Moon is on the left, casting a strong reflection across the reservoir
waters. With intense solar activity driving recent geomagnetic storms,
the colorful aurora borealis or northern lights, rare to the region,
shine under Polaris and the north celestial pole.

AuroraSaurus: Report your aurora observations
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility Notices
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 May 19

Jupiter Diving
Animated Video Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS, Gerald Eichstadt,
Justin Cowart

Explanation: Take this simulated plunge and dive into the upper
atmosphere of Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant. The awesome
animation is based on image data from JunoCam, and the microwave
radiometer on board the Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft. Your view
will start about 3,000 kilometers above the southern Jovian cloud tops,
and you can track your progress on the display at the left. As altitude
decreases, temperature increases while you dive deeper at the location
of Jupiter's famous Great Red Spot. In fact, Juno data indicates the
Great Red Spot, the Solar System's largest storm system, penetrates
some 300 kilometers into the giant planet's atmosphere. For comparison,
the deepest point for planet Earth's oceans is just under 11 kilometers
down. Don't worry though, you'll fly back out again.

Dive into the Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: aurora amazing
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 20
A large purple transparent dome appears to cover much of a starry sky.
A person stands in a field looking toward the unusual spectacle. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Aurora Dome Sky
Image Credit & Copyright: Xuecheng Liu & Yuxuan Liu

Explanation: It seemed like night, but part of the sky glowed purple.
It was the now famous night of May 10, 2024, when people over much of
the world reported beautiful aurora-filled skies. The featured image
was captured this night during early morning hours from Arlington,
Wisconsin, USA. The panorama is a composite of several 6-second
exposures covering two thirds of the visible sky, with north in the
center, and processed to heighten the colors and remove electrical
wires. The photographer (in the foreground) reported that the aurora
appeared to flow from a point overhead but illuminated the sky only
toward the north. The aurora's energetic particles originated from CMEs
ejected from our Sun over sunspot AR 6443 a few days before. This large
active region rotated to the far side of the Sun last week, but may
well survive to rotate back toward the Earth next week.

Tomorrow's picture: hungry cloud
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 21
The featured image shows a distant galaxy on the left next to a gas
cloud on the right. An opening in the gas cloud is on the same side as
the galaxy. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

CG4: The Globule and the Galaxy
Image Credit: CTIO, NOIRLab, DOE, NSF, AURA; Processing: T. A. Rector
(U. Alaska Anchorage/NSFC╟╓s NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSFC╟╓s
NOIRLab)

Explanation: Can a gas cloud eat a galaxy? It's not even close. The
"claw" of this odd looking "creature" in the featured photo is a gas
cloud known as a cometary globule. This globule, however, has ruptured.
Cometary globules are typically characterized by dusty heads and
elongated tails. These features cause cometary globules to have visual
similarities to comets, but in reality they are very much different.
Globules are frequently the birthplaces of stars, and many show very
young stars in their heads. The reason for the rupture in the head of
this object is not yet known. The galaxy to the left of the globule is
huge, very far in the distance, and only placed near CG4 by chance
superposition.

Tomorrow's picture: green sky arc
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 22
A big green arc is seen arching across the night sky. The arc fades
away above into a green haze, while no green glow is seen below the
arc. A dark sky filled with stars and constellations fills the
background. Snow and distant trees line the foreground. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Green Aurora over Sweden
Image Credit & Copyright: G++ran Strand

Explanation: It was bright and green and stretched across the sky. This
striking aurora display was captured in 2016 just outside of +√stersund,
Sweden. Six photographic fields were merged to create the featured
panorama spanning almost 180 degrees. Particularly striking aspects of
this aurora include its sweeping arc-like shape and its stark
definition. Lake Storsj++n is seen in the foreground, while several
familiar constellations and the star Polaris are visible through the
aurora, far in the background. Coincidently, the aurora appears to
avoid the Moon visible on the lower left. The aurora appeared a day
after a large hole opened in the Sun's corona, allowing particularly
energetic particles to flow out into the Solar System. The green color
of the aurora is caused by oxygen atoms recombining with ambient
electrons high in the Earth's atmosphere.

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

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 May 23

Unraveling NGC 3169
Image Credit & Copyright: Christophe Vergnes, Aziz Kaeouach

Explanation: Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 looks to be unraveling like a ball
of cosmic yarn. It lies some 70 million light-years away, south of
bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Wound up
spiral arms are pulled out into sweeping tidal tails as NGC 3169 (left)
and neighboring NGC 3166 interact gravitationally. Eventually the
galaxies will merge into one, a common fate even for bright galaxies in
the local universe. Drawn out stellar arcs and plumes are clear
indications of the ongoing gravitational interactions across the deep
and colorful galaxy group photo. The telescopic frame spans about 20
arc minutes or about 400,000 light-years at the group's estimated
distance, and includes smaller, bluish NGC 3165 to the right. NGC 3169
is also known to shine across the spectrum from radio to X-rays,
harboring an active galactic nucleus that is the site of a supermassive
black hole.

Tomorrow's picture: Chamaeleon Cloud
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 24
A star field filled with complex dark dust and bright purple nebulas is
shown. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

M78 from the Euclid Space Telescope
Image Credit & License: ESA, Euclid, Euclid Consortium, NASA;
Processing: J.-C. Cuillandre (CEA Paris-Saclay), G. Anselmi

Explanation: Star formation can be messy. To help find out just how
messy, ESA's new Sun-orbiting Euclid telescope recently captured the
most detailed image ever of the bright star forming region M78. Near
the image center, M78 lies at a distance of only about 1,300
light-years away and has a main glowing core that spans about 5
light-years. The featured image was taken in both visible and infrared
light. The purple tint in M78's center is caused by dark dust
preferentially reflecting the blue light of hot, young stars. Complex
dust lanes and filaments can be traced through this gorgeous and
revealing skyscape. On the upper left is associated star forming region
NGC 2071, while a third region of star formation is visible on the
lower right. These nebulas are all part of the vast Orion Molecular
Cloud Complex which can be found with even a small telescope just north
of Orion's belt.

More Euclid Sky Candy: Recent images released from Euclid
Tomorrow's picture: Earth's big mystery crater
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 25

Manicouagan Impact Crater from Space
Image Credit: NASA, International Space Station Expedition 59

Explanation: Orbiting 400 kilometers above Quebec, Canada, planet
Earth, the International Space Station Expedition 59 crew captured this
snapshot of the broad St. Lawrence River and curiously circular Lake
Manicouagan on April 11. Right of center, the ring-shaped lake is a
modern reservoir within the eroded remnant of an ancient 100 kilometer
diameter impact crater. The ancient crater is very conspicuous from
orbit, a visible reminder that Earth is vulnerable to rocks from space.
Over 200 million years old, the Manicouagan crater was likely caused by
the impact of a rocky body about 5 kilometers in diameter. Currently,
there is no known asteroid with a significant probability of impacting
Earth in the next century. Each month, NASAC╟╓s Planetary Defense
Coordination Office releases an update featuring the most recent
figures on near-Earth object close approaches, and other facts about
comets and asteroids that could pose a potential impact hazard with
Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: explosion on 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

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

2024 May 26
A large filament on the upper left is seen lifting away from the Sun,
pictured on the lower right. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

A Solar Filament Erupts
Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, SDO AIA Team

Explanation: What's happened to our Sun? Nothing very unusual -- it
just threw a filament. Toward the middle of 2012, a long standing solar
filament suddenly erupted into space, producing an energetic coronal
mass ejection (CME). The filament had been held up for days by the
Sun's ever changing magnetic field and the timing of the eruption was
unexpected. Watched closely by the Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamics
Observatory, the resulting explosion shot electrons and ions into the
Solar System, some of which arrived at Earth three days later and
impacted Earth's magnetosphere, causing visible auroras. Loops of
plasma surrounding the active region can be seen above the erupting
filament in the featured ultraviolet image. Our Sun is nearing the most
active time in its 11-year cycle, creating many coronal holes that
allow for the ejection of charged particles into space. As before,
these charged particles can create auroras.

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

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
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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 May 27

Chamaeleon I Molecular Cloud
Image Credit & Copyright: Amiel Contuliano

Explanation: Dark markings and bright nebulae in this telescopic
southern sky view are telltale signs of young stars and active star
formation. They lie a mere 650 light-years away, at the boundary of the
local bubble and the Chamaeleon molecular cloud complex. Regions with
young stars identified as dusty reflection nebulae from the 1946
Cederblad catalog include the C-shaped Ced 110 just above and right of
center, and bluish Ced 111 below it. Also a standout in the frame, the
orange tinted V-shape of the Chamaeleon Infrared Nebula (Cha IRN) was
carved by material streaming from a newly formed low-mass star. The
well-composed image spans 1.5 degrees. That's about 17 light-years at
the estimated distance of the nearby Chamaeleon I molecular cloud.

Tomorrow's picture: stairway to
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 28

Solar X Flare as Famous Active Region Returns
Video Credit: NASA, Solar Dynamics Observatory

Explanation: It's back. The famous active region on the Sun that
created auroras visible around the Earth earlier this month has
survived its rotation around the far side of the Sun -- and returned.
Yesterday, as it was beginning to reappear on the Earth-facing side,
the region formerly labeled AR 3664 threw another major solar flare,
again in the highest-energy X-class range. The featured video shows the
emerging active region on the lower left, as it was captured by NASA's
Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory yesterday in ultraviolet
light. The video is a time-lapse of the entire Sun rotating over 24
hours. Watch the lower-left region carefully at about the 2-second mark
to see the powerful flare burst out. The energetic particles from that
flare and associated CME are not expected to directly impact the Earth
and trigger impressive auroras, but scientists will keep a close watch
on this unusually active region over the next two weeks, as it faces
the Earth, to see what develops.

Tomorrow's picture: stairway to CǪ
__________________________________________________________________

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

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* 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 May 29
A star filled sky shows the arch of the central band of our Milky Way
galaxy across the top of the image. In the foreground is a rocky
landscape with a hill ahead and a pathway that leads to stairs up that
hill. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Stairway to the Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadzi+Σski

Explanation: What happens if you ascend this stairway to the Milky Way?
Before answering that, let's understand the beautiful sky you will see.
Most eye-catching is the grand arch of the Milky Way Galaxy, the band
that is the central disk of our galaxy which is straight but distorted
by the wide-angle nature of this composite image. Many stars well in
front of the Milk Way will be visible, with the bright white star just
below the stellar arch being Altair, and the bright blue star above it
being Vega. The air glows green on the left, just above the yellow
cloud deck. The featured image was taken last month on Portugal's
Madeira Island in the North Atlantic Ocean. Oh, and what happens after
you reach the top of these stairs and admire the amazing sky is, quite
probably, that you then descend down the stairs on the other side.

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

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 May 30
The famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France is pictured on the left lit up
in gold at night. A blue laser shines out from the top. Clouds dot the
background sky. The Moon is also visible through the clouds, but is
circled by colorful rings: a lunar corona. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

A Lunar Corona over Paris
Image Credit & Copyright: Valter Binotto

Explanation: Why does a cloudy moon sometimes appear colorful? The
effect, called a lunar corona, is created by the quantum mechanical
diffraction of light around individual, similarly-sized water droplets
in an intervening but mostly-transparent cloud. Since light of
different colors has different wavelengths, each color diffracts
differently. Lunar coronae are one of the few quantum mechanical color
effects that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. Solar coronae are
also sometimes evident. The featured image was taken last month from
Paris, France. The blue beacon emanating from the Eiffel Tower did not
affect the colorful lunar corona.

Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: nebulous realm
__________________________________________________________________

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 May 31

The Nebulous Realm of WR 134
Image Credit & Copyright: Xin Long

Explanation: Made with narrowband filters, this cosmic snapshot covers
a field of view over twice as wide as the full Moon within the
boundaries of the constellation Cygnus. It highlights the bright edge
of a ring-like nebula traced by the glow of ionized hydrogen and oxygen
gas. Embedded in the region's expanse of interstellar clouds, the
complex, glowing arcs are sections of shells of material swept up by
the wind from Wolf-Rayet star WR 134, brightest star near the center of
the frame. Distance estimates put WR 134 about 6,000 light-years away,
making the frame over 100 light-years across. Shedding their outer
envelopes in powerful stellar winds, massive Wolf-Rayet stars have
burned through their nuclear fuel at a prodigious rate and end this
final phase of massive star evolution in a spectacular supernova
explosion. The stellar winds and final supernova enrich the
interstellar material with heavy elements to be incorporated in future
generations of stars.

Tomorrow's picture: stereo moon
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 1

Stereo Helene
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA; Stereo Image
by Roberto Beltramini

Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to Helene,
small, icy moon of Saturn. Appropriately named, Helene is a Trojan
moon, so called because it orbits at a Lagrange point. A Lagrange point
is a gravitationally stable position near two massive bodies, in this
case Saturn and larger moon Dione. In fact, irregularly shaped ( about
36 by 32 by 30 kilometers) Helene orbits at Dione's leading Lagrange
point while brotherly ice moon Polydeuces follows at Dione's trailing
Lagrange point. The sharp stereo anaglyph was constructed from two
Cassini images captured during a close flyby in 2011. It shows part of
the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Helene mottled with craters and
gully-like features.

Tomorrow's picture: both sides of Earth's Moon
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 2

Rotating Moon from LRO
Video Credit: NASA, LRO, Arizona State U.

Explanation: No one, presently, sees the Moon rotate like this. That's
because the Earth's moon is tidally locked to the Earth, showing us
only one side. Given modern digital technology, however, combined with
many detailed images returned by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
(LRO), a high resolution virtual Moon rotation movie has been composed.
The featured time-lapse video starts with the standard Earth view of
the Moon. Quickly, though, Mare Orientale, a large crater with a dark
center that is difficult to see from the Earth, rotates into view just
below the equator. From an entire lunar month condensed into 24
seconds, the video clearly shows that the Earth side of the Moon
contains an abundance of dark lunar maria, while the lunar far side is
dominated by bright lunar highlands. Currently, over 32 new missions to
the Moon are under active development from multiple countries and
companies, including NASA's Artemis program which aims to land people
on the Moon again within the next few years.

Tomorrow's picture: island universe
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 3

NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis
Image Credit & Copyright: (Team F.A.C.T.) Lilian Lbt - Cyrille Malo -
Maxime Martin - Cl+¼ment Daniel - Paul Grasset - Louis Leroux-G+¼r+¼

Explanation: Magnificent island universe NGC 2403 stands within the
boundaries of the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. Some 10
million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-years across, the
spiral galaxy also seems to have more than its fair share of giant star
forming HII regions, marked by the telltale reddish glow of atomic
hydrogen gas. The giant HII regions are energized by clusters of hot,
massive stars that explode as bright supernovae at the end of their
short and furious lives. A member of the M81 group of galaxies, NGC
2403 closely resembles a galaxy in our own local galaxy group with an
abundance of star forming regions, M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. Spiky in
appearance, bright stars in this portrait of NGC 2403 are in the
foreground, within our own Milky Way. Also in the foreground of the
deep, wide-field, telescopic image are the Milky Way's dim and dusty
interstellar clouds also known as galactic cirrus or integrated flux
nebulae. But faint features that seem to extend from NGC 2403 itself
are likely tidal stellar streams drawn out by gravitational
interactions with neighboring galaxies.

Tomorrow's picture: tail tales
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 4
A dark star filled sky is shown with the wisps extending the length of
the image. The wisps are the two tails of Comet 12P. A particularly
bright star is visible near the bottom of the frame. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Comet Pons-Brooks Develops Opposing Tails
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri & Lukas Demetz

Explanation: Why does Comet Pons-Brooks now have tails pointing in
opposite directions? The most spectacular tail is the blue-glowing ion
tail that is visible flowing down the image. The ion tail is pushed
directly out from the Sun by the solar wind. On the upper right is the
glowing central coma of Comet 12P/PonsC╟⌠Brooks. Fanning out from the
coma, mostly to the left, is the comet's dust tail. Pushed out and
slowed down by the pressure of sunlight, the dust tail tends to trail
the comet along its orbit and, from some viewing angles, can appear
opposite to the ion tail. The distant, bright star Alpha Leporis is
seen at the bottom of the featured image captured last week from
Namibia. Two days ago, the comet passed its closest to the Earth and is
now best visible from southern skies as it dims and glides back to the
outer Solar System.

Tomorrow's picture: mystery martian
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 5
A red landscape filled with rocks is shown. A hilltop is visible in the
distance. A shadow is visible on the landscape. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Shadow of a Martian Robot
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, ASU, NeV-T, Perseverance Rover;
Processing & Copyright: Neville Thompson, Gigapan Zoom

Explanation: What if you saw your shadow on Mars and it wasn't human?
Then you might be the Perseverance rover exploring Mars. Perseverance
has been examining the Red Planet since 2021, finding evidence of its
complex history of volcanism and ancient flowing water, and sending
breathtaking images across the inner Solar System. Pictured here in
February of 2024, Perseverance looks opposite the Sun and across
Neretva Vallis in Jezero Crater, with a local hill visible at the top
of the frame. The distinctively non-human shadow of the car-sized rover
is visible below center, superposed on scattered rocks. Perseverance,
now working without its flying companion Ingenuity, continues to search
Mars for signs of ancient life.

Tomorrow's picture: galaxy on edge
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 6

NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
Image Credit & Copyright: L+|r+ønd F+¼nyes

Explanation: Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from
planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile,
bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky,
in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp,
colorful image reveals the galaxy's boxy, bulging central core cut by
obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. NGC 4565
itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000
light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts
consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier
missed.

Tomorrow's picture: sky dolphin
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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 June 7

SH2-308: The Dolphin Head Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Prabhu Kutti

Explanation: Blown by fast winds from a hot, massive star, this cosmic
bubble is huge. Cataloged as Sharpless 2-308 it lies some 5,000
light-years away toward the well-trained constellation Canis Major and
covers slightly more of the sky than a Full Moon. That corresponds to a
diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance. The massive star
that created the bubble, a Wolf-Rayet star, is the bright one near the
center of the nebula. Wolf-Rayet stars have over 20 times the mass of
the Sun and are thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova phase of
massive star evolution. Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet star create the
bubble-shaped nebula as they sweep up slower moving material from an
earlier phase of evolution. The windblown nebula has an age of about
70,000 years. Relatively faint emission captured by narrowband filters
in the deep image is dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atoms
mapped to a blue hue. Presenting a mostly harmless outline, SH2-308 is
also known as The Dolphin-head Nebula.

Tomorrow's picture: pandora's galaxies
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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 June 8

Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ivo Labbe (Swinburne), Rachel Bezanson
(University of Pittsburgh), Processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

Explanation: This deep field mosaicked image presents a stunning view
of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 recorded by the James Webb Space
Telescope's NIRCam. Also dubbed Pandora's Cluster, Abell 2744 itself
appears to be a ponderous merger of three different massive galaxy
clusters. It lies some 3.5 billion light-years away, toward the
constellation Sculptor. Dominated by dark matter, the mega-cluster
warps and distorts the fabric of spacetime, gravitationally lensing
even more distant objects. Redder than the Pandora cluster galaxies
many of the lensed sources are very distant galaxies in the early
Universe, their lensed images stretched and distorted into arcs. Of
course distinctive diffraction spikes mark foreground Milky Way stars.
At the Pandora Cluster's estimated distance this cosmic box spans about
6 million light-years. But don't panic. You can explore the tantalizing
region in a 2 minute video tour.

Tomorrow's picture: what's that?
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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 June 9
An illustration is shown which is a decision tree for identifying a
light that might be seen in the sky. The background is gray, and the
text is black in red-lined boxes. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

How to Identify that Light in the Sky
Illustration Credit & Copyright: HK (The League of Lost Causes)

Explanation: What is that light in the sky? The answer to one of
humanity's more common questions may emerge from a few quick
observations. For example -- is it moving or blinking? If so, and if
you live near a city, the answer is typically an airplane, since planes
are so numerous and so few stars and satellites are bright enough to be
seen over the glare of artificial city lights. If not, and if you live
far from a city, that bright light is likely a planet such as Venus or
Mars -- the former of which is constrained to appear near the horizon
just before dawn or after dusk. Sometimes the low apparent motion of a
distant airplane near the horizon makes it hard to tell from a bright
planet, but even this can usually be discerned by the plane's motion
over a few minutes. Still unsure? The featured chart gives a
sometimes-humorous but mostly-accurate assessment. Dedicated sky
enthusiasts will likely note -- and are encouraged to provide -- polite
corrections.

Chart translations: Italian, German, Latvian, Persian, Polish, Spanish,
and Turkish
Tomorrow's picture: big lion
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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 June 10
A starfield is shown with a large colorful emission nebula in the
center. The outline of this emission nebula has a resemblance to a
lion. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Sh2-132: The Lion Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Imran Badr; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY
Oswego)

Explanation: Is the Lion Nebula the real ruler of the constellation
Cepheus? This powerful feline appearing nebula is powered by two
massive stars, each with a mass over 20 times greater than our Sun.
Formed from shells of ionized gas that have expanded, the nebula's
energetic matter not only glows, but is dense enough to contract
gravitationally and form stars. The angular size of the Lion Nebula,
officially named Sh2-132, is slightly greater than that of the full
moon. The gaseous iconic region resides about 10,000 light years away
in a constellation named after the King of Aethopia in Greek mythology.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: star 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 June 11
Colorful nebula and stars fill the wide images. The yellow star Antares
is visible on the left and blue reflection nebula surround a central
nebula and the nebula on the right surrounding the Rho Ophiuchi star
system. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Colorful Stars and Clouds near Rho Ophiuchi
Image Credit & Copyright: Craig Stocks

Explanation: Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful,
yet dusty? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes.
Fine dust -- illuminated by starlight -- produces blue reflection
nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet
starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block
starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the
brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the
upper right of the featured image. The Rho Ophiuchi star system lies at
the center of the blue reflection nebula on the left, while a different
reflection nebula, IC 4605, lies just below and right of the image
center. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see,
emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Open Science: Browse 3,400+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
Library
Tomorrow's picture: unexpected 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 June 12
Purple striped aurora cover a star filled sky. Mountain peaks are
visible on the sides, as well as a futuristic looking building on the
right side. City lights are visible in the valley down below. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Aurora over Karkonosze Mountains
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Koszela

Explanation: It was the first time ever. At least, the first time this
photographer had ever seen aurora from his home mountains. And what a
spectacular aurora it was. The Karkonosze Mountains in Poland are
usually too far south to see any auroras. But on the amazing night of
May 10 - 11, purple and green colors lit up much of the night sky, a
surprising spectacle that also appeared over many mid-latitude
locations around the Earth. The featured image is a composite of six
vertical exposures taken during the auroral peak. The futuristic
buildings on the right are part of a meteorological observatory located
on the highest peak of the Karkonosze Mountains. The purple color is
primarily due to Sun-triggered, high-energy electrons impacting
nitrogen molecules in Earth's atmosphere. Our Sun is reaching its
maximum surface activity over the next two years, and although many
more auroras are predicted, most will occur over regions closer to the
Earth's poles.

Tomorrow's picture: star swirl
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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 June 13

Messier 66 Close Up
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble
Collaboration.
Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin and Robert Gendler

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy Messier 66 lies a mere 35
million light-years away. The gorgeous island universe is about 100
thousand light-years across, similar in size to the Milky Way. This
Hubble Space Telescope close-up view spans a region about 30,000
light-years wide around the galactic core. It shows the galaxy's disk
dramatically inclined to our line-of-sight. Surrounding its bright
core, the likely home of a supermassive black hole, obscuring dust
lanes and young, blue star clusters sweep along spiral arms dotted with
the tell-tale glow of pinkish star forming regions. Messier 66, also
known as NGC 3627, is the brightest of the three galaxies in the
gravitationally interacting Leo Triplet.

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.

2024 June 14

RCW 85
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh

Explanation: From the 1960 astronomical catalog of Rodgers, Campbell
and Whiteoak, emission region RCW 85 shines in southern night skies
between bright stars Alpha and Beta Centauri. About 5,000 light years
distant, the hazy interstellar cloud of glowing hydrogen gas and dust
is faint. But detailed structures along well-defined rims within RCW 85
are traced in this cosmic skyscape composed of 28 hours of narrow and
broadband exposures. Suggestive of dramatic shapes in other stellar
nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are sculpted by energetic
winds and radiation from newborn stars, the tantalizing nebula has been
called the Devil's Tower. This telescopic frame would span around 100
light-years at the estimated distance of RCW 85.

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 June 15

Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Steen S+.ndergaard

Explanation: This colorized and sharpened image of the Sun is composed
of frames recording emission from hydrogen atoms in the solar
chromosphere on May 15. Approaching the maximum of solar cycle 25, a
multitude of active regions and twisting, snake-like solar filaments
are seen to sprawl across the surface of the active Sun. Suspend in the
active regions' strong magnetic fields, the filaments of plasma lofted
above the Sun's edge appear as bright solar prominences. The large
prominences seen near 4 o'clock, and just before 9 o'clock around the
solar limb are post flare loops from two powerful X-class solar flares
that both occurred on that day. In fact, the 4 o'clock prominence is
associated with the monster active region AR 3664 just rotating off the
Sun's edge.

Tomorrow's picture: How to destroy a star.
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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 June 16

Animation: Black Hole Destroys Star
Video Illustration Credit: DESY, Science Communication Lab

Explanation: What happens if a star gets too close to a black hole? The
black hole can rip it apart -- but how? It's not the high gravitational
attraction itself that's the problem -- it's the difference in
gravitational pull across the star that creates the destruction. In the
featured animated video illustrating this disintegration, you first see
a star approaching the black hole. Increasing in orbital speed, the
star's outer atmosphere is ripped away during closest approach. Much of
the star's atmosphere disperses into deep space, but some continues to
orbit the black hole and forms an accretion disk. The animation then
takes you into the accretion disk while looking toward the black hole.
Including the strange visual effects of gravitational lensing, you can
even see the far side of the disk. Finally, you look along one of the
jets being expelled along the spin axis. Theoretical models indicate
that these jets not only expel energetic gas, but also create energetic
neutrinos -- one of which may have been seen recently on Earth.

Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: big squid
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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 June 17
A starfield has a red nebula covering much of the frame but in the
center, extending nearly vertically, is a blue nebula that appears
shaped, to some, like a squid. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Alex Linde

Explanation: Squids on Earth aren't this big. This mysterious
squid-like cosmic cloud spans nearly three full moons on planet Earth's
sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the
Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue
emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded
by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and
nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one
investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300
light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would
represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system
of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the
nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over
50 light-years across.

Tomorrow's picture: thunder jets
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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 June 18
A landscape showing a night sky over distant mountains is shown. Lakes
dot the foreground in front of the mountains. Extending from above the
mountains into the night sky are six bright jets. The jets are violet
at the bottom but red at the top. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Gigantic Jets over Himalayan Mountains
Image Credit & Copyright: Li Xuanhua

Explanation: Yes, but can your thunderstorm do this? Pictured here are
gigantic jets shooting up from a thunderstorm last week toward the
Himalayan Mountains in China and Bhutan. The composite image captured
four long jets that occurred only minutes apart. Gigantic jets,
documented only in this century, are a type of lightning discharge that
occurs between some thunderstorms and the Earth's ionosphere high above
them. They are an unusual type of lightning that is much different from
regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The bottoms of
gigantic jets appear similar to a cloud-to-above strike called blue
jets, while the tops appear similar to upper-atmosphere red sprites.
Although the mechanism and trigger that cause gigantic jets remains a
topic of research, it is clear that the jets reduce charge imbalance
between different parts of Earth's atmosphere. A good way to look for
gigantic jets is to watch a powerful but distant thunderstorm from a
clear location.

Tomorrow's picture: dragon fight
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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 June 19
Gas and dust are shown in a deep starfield. The gas glows blue and red,
while the dark dust is connected in filaments across the image. To
some, the filaments appear to have the shape of two dragons fighting.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara
Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Taylor

Explanation: Do dragons fight on the altar of the sky? Although it
might appear that way, these dragons are illusions made of thin gas and
dust. The emission nebula NGC 6188, home to the glowing clouds, is
found about 4,000 light years away near the edge of a large molecular
cloud, unseen at visible wavelengths, in the southern constellation Ara
(the Altar). Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association
were formed in that region only a few million years ago, sculpting the
dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and
intense ultraviolet radiation. The recent star formation itself was
likely triggered by winds and supernova explosions from previous
generations of massive stars, that swept up and compressed the
molecular gas. This impressively detailed image spans over 2 degrees
(four full Moons), corresponding to over 150 light years at the
estimated distance of NGC 6188.

Tomorrow's picture: open solstice
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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 June 20

Sandy and the Moon Halo
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace

Explanation: Last April's Full Moon shines through high clouds near the
horizon, casting shadows in this garden-at-night skyscape. Along with
canine sentinel Sandy watching the garden gate, the wide-angle snapshot
also captured the bright Moon's 22 degree ice halo. But June's bright
Full Moon will cast shadows too. This month, the Moon's exact full
phase occurs at 01:08 UTC June 22. That's a mere 28 hours or so after
today's June solstice (at 20:51 UTC June 20), the moment when the Sun
reaches its maximum northern declination. Known to some as a Strawberry
Moon, June's Full Moon is at its southernmost declination, and of
course will create its own 22 degree halos in hazy night skies.

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 June 21

Hubble's NGC 1546
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, David Thilker (JHU)

Explanation: Returning to science operations on June 14, the Hubble
Space Telescope used its new pointing mode to capture this sharp image
of spiral galaxy NGC 1546. A member of the Dorado galaxy group, the
island universe lies a mere 50 million light-years away. The galactic
disk of NGC 1546 is tilted to our line-of-sight, with the yellowish
light of the old stars and bluish regions of newly formed stars shining
through the galaxy's dust lanes. More distant background galaxies are
scattered throughout this Hubble view. Launched in 1990, Hubble has
been exploring the cosmos for more than three decades, recently
celebrating its 34th anniversary.

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

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 June 22

Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
Image Credit & Copyright: Long Xin

Explanation: Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula (LDN) 1251. About
1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way
galaxy, LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as "The Rotten Fish
Nebula." The dusty molecular cloud is part of a complex of dark nebulae
mapped toward the Cepheus flare region. Across the spectrum,
astronomical explorations of the obscuring interstellar clouds reveal
energetic shocks and outflows associated with newborn stars, including
the telltale reddish glow from scattered Herbig-Haro objects hiding in
the image. Distant background galaxies also lurk in the scene, almost
buried behind the dusty expanse. This alluring view spans over four
full moons on the sky, or 35 light-years at the estimated distance of
LDN 1251.

Tomorrow's picture: colors of Saturn
__________________________________________________________________

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 June 23
Saturn is shown taking up most of the frame. Most of the planet appears
a banded gold. A thin line that is the rings appears dark brown and
runs diagonally from the lower left. The upper part has dark bands
which are shadows and behind the shadows the color of Saturn's
atmosphere appears blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

The Colors of Saturn from Cassini
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, JPL, ISS, Cassini Imaging Team; Processing &
License: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: What creates Saturn's colors? The featured picture of
Saturn only slightly exaggerates what a human would see if hovering
close to the giant ringed world. The image was taken in 2005 by the
robot Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Here
Saturn's majestic rings appear directly only as a curved line,
appearing brown, in part from its infrared glow. The rings best show
their complex structure in the dark shadows they create across the
upper part of the planet. The northern hemisphere of Saturn can appear
partly blue for the same reason that Earth's skies can appear blue --
molecules in the cloudless portions of both planet's atmospheres are
better at scattering blue light than red. When looking deep into
Saturn's clouds, however, the natural gold hue of Saturn's clouds
becomes dominant. It is not known why southern Saturn does not show the
same blue hue -- one hypothesis holds that clouds are higher there. It
is also not known why some of Saturn's clouds are colored gold.

Tomorrow's picture: farthest galaxy
__________________________________________________________________

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

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

2024 June 24
A dark field is shown filled with smudges that are distant galaxies.
One smudge is expanded in an inset box. This box shows a reddish
elongated object. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

JADES-GS-z14-0: A New Farthest Object
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, B. Robertson (UC Santa Cruz), B.
Johnson (CfA), S. Tacchella (Cambridge), P. Cargile (CfA)

Explanation: What if we could see back to the beginning of the
universe? We could see galaxies forming. But what did galaxies look
like back then? These questions took a step forward recently with the
release of the analysis of a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image
that included the most distant object yet discovered. Most galaxies
formed at about 3 billion years after the Big Bang, but some formed
earlier. Pictured in the inset box is JADES-GS-z14-0, a faint smudge of
a galaxy that formed only 300 million years after the universe started.
In technical terms, this galaxy lies at the record redshift of z=14.32,
and so existed when the universe was only one fiftieth of the its
present age. Practically all of the objects in the featured photograph
are galaxies.

Tomorrow's picture: space thingy
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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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written by a professional astronomer.

2024 June 25
A busy starfield is shown which an elongated brown nebula running
diagonally from the lower left to the upper right. A bright blue star
and a star cluster appear above the nebula. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

The Dark Doodad Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Martin Pugh & Rocco Sung

Explanation: What is that strange brown ribbon on the sky? When
observing the star cluster NGC 4372, observers frequently take note of
an unusual dark streak nearby running about three degrees in length.
The streak, actually a long molecular cloud, has become known as the
Dark Doodad Nebula. (Doodad is slang for a thingy or a
whatchamacallit.) Pictured here, the Dark Doodad Nebula sweeps across
the center of a rich and colorful starfield. Its dark color comes from
a high concentration of interstellar dust that preferentially scatters
visible light. The globular star cluster NGC 4372 is visible as the
fuzzy white spot on the far left, while the bright blue star gamma
Muscae is seen to the cluster's upper right. The Dark Doodad Nebula can
be found with strong binoculars toward the southern constellation of
the Fly (Musca).

Tomorrow's picture: sky show
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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 June 26

Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way
Video Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN); Music (License): Suite
bergamasque by Claude Debussy

Explanation: What's happening in the sky this unusual night? Most
striking in the featured 4.5-hour 360-degree panoramic video, perhaps,
is the pink and purple aurora. That's because this night, encompassing
May 11, was famous for its auroral skies around the world. As the night
progresses, auroral bands shimmer, the central band of our Milky Way
Galaxy rises, and stars shift as the Earth rotates beneath them.
Captured here simultaneously is a rare red band running above the
aurora: a SAR arc, seen to change only slightly. The flashing below the
horizon is caused by passing cars, while the moving spots in the sky
are satellites and airplanes. The featured video was captured from
Xinjiang, China with four separate cameras.

Tomorrow's picture: protostellar outflows
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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 June 27

Protostellar Outflows in Serpens
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Klaus Pontoppidan (NASA-JPL), Joel
Green (STScI)

Explanation: Jets of material blasting from newborn stars, are captured
in this James Webb Space Telescope close-up of the Serpens Nebula. The
powerful protostellar outflows are bipolar, twin jets spewing in
opposite directions. Their directions are perpendicular to accretion
disks formed around the spinning, collapsing stellar infants. In the
NIRcam image, the reddish color represents emission from molecular
hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced as the jets collide with the
surrounding gas and dust. The sharp image shows for the first time that
individual outflows detected in the Serpens Nebula are generally
aligned along the same direction. That result was expected, but has
only now come into clear view with Webb's detailed exploration of the
active young star-forming region. Brighter foreground stars exhibit
Webb's characteristic diffraction spikes. At the Serpens Nebula's
estimated distance of 1,300 light-years, this cosmic close-up frame is
about 1 light-year across.

Tomorrow's picture: Olber's comet
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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 June 28

Comet 13P/Olbers
Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett`

Explanation: Not a paradox, Comet 13P/Olbers is returning to the inner
Solar System after 68 years. The periodic, Halley-type comet will reach
its next perihelion or closest approach to the Sun on June 30 and has
become a target for binocular viewing low in planet Earth's northern
hemisphere night skies. But this sharp telescopic image of 13P is
composed of stacked exposures made on the night of June 25. It easily
reveals shifting details in the bright comet's torn and tattered ion
tail buffeted by the wind from an active Sun, along with a broad,
fanned-out dust tail and slightly greenish coma. The frame spans over
two degrees across a background of faint stars toward the constellation
Lynx.

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 June 29

A Solstice Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN)

Explanation: Rising opposite the setting Sun, June's Full Moon occurred
within about 28 hours of the solstice. The Moon stays close to the
Sun's path along the ecliptic plane and so while the solstice Sun
climbed high in daytime skies, June's Full Moon remained low that night
as seen from northern latitudes. In fact, the Full Moon hugs the
horizon in this June 21 rooftop night sky view from Bursa, Turkey,
constructed from exposures made every 10 minutes between moonrise and
moonset. In 2024 the Moon also reached a major lunar standstill, 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, this June solstice Full Moon was at its southernmost moonrise
and moonset along the horizon.

Tomorrow's picture: Earthrise
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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 June 30

Earthrise: A Video Reconstruction
Video Credit: NASA, SVS, Apollo 8 Crew;
Lead Animator: Ernie Wright; (USRA); Music: C Major Prelude by Johann
Sebastian Bach

Explanation: About 12 seconds into this video, something unusual
happens. The Earth begins to rise. Never seen by humans before, the
rise of the Earth over the limb of the Moon occurred about 55.5 years
ago and surprised and amazed the crew of Apollo 8. The crew immediately
scrambled to take still images of the stunning vista caused by Apollo
8's orbit around the Moon. The featured video is a modern
reconstruction of the event as it would have looked were it recorded
with a modern movie camera. The colorful orb of our Earth stood out as
a familiar icon rising above a distant and unfamiliar moonscape, the
whole scene the conceptual reverse of a more familiar moonrise as seen
from Earth. To many, the scene also spoke about the unity of humanity:
that big blue marble -- that's us -- we all live there. The two-minute
video is not time-lapse -- this is the real speed of the Earth rising
through the windows of Apollo 8. Seven months and three missions later,
Apollo 11 astronauts would not only circle Earth's moon, but land on
it.

NASA Administrator Remembers Earthrise Photographer William Anders
Tomorrow's picture: time spiral
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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 1
An illustrated spiral is shown depicting many significant events that
have occurred since the big bang. The big bang is at the center, and a
city built by humans is at the spiral's end. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

Time Spiral
Illustration Credit: Pablo Carlos Budassi via Wikipedia

Explanation: What's happened since the universe started? The time
spiral shown here features a few notable highlights. At the spiral's
center is the Big Bang, the place where time, as we know it, began
about 13.8 billion years ago. Within a few billion years atoms formed,
then stars formed from atoms, galaxies formed from stars and gas, our
Sun formed, soon followed by our Earth, about 4.6 billion years ago.
Life on Earth begins about 3.8 billion years ago, followed by cells,
then photosynthesis within a billion years. About 1.7 billion years
ago, multicellular life on Earth began to flourish. Fish began to swim
about 500 million years ago, and mammals because walking on land about
200 million years ago. Humans first appeared only about 6 million years
ago, and made the first cities only about 10,000 years ago. The time
spiral illustrated stops there, but human spaceflight might be added,
which started only 75 years ago, and useful artificial intelligence
began to take hold within only the past few years.

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

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

2024 July 2
A star cluster is shown in and around a gas cloud that looks like an
oyster. The rollover image shows the same cluster not only in visible
light, but X-ray and infrared too. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster
Image Credit: X-ray: Chandra: NASA/CXC/Univ.Potsdam/L.Oskinova et al;
Optical: Hubble: NASA/STScI; Infrared: Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Explanation: The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like
pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic
Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies
this 5 million year old star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by its birth
shell of gas and dust, star cluster NGC 602 is featured in this
stunning Hubble image, augmented in a rollover by images in the X-ray
by the Chandra Observatory and in the infrared by Spitzer Telescope.
Fantastic ridges and swept back gas strongly suggest that energetic
radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have
eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation
moving away from the star cluster's center. At the estimated distance
of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the featured picture spans about 200
light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are
also visible in this sharp view. The background galaxies are hundreds
of millions of light-years -- or more -- beyond NGC 602.

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

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2024 July 3

M83: Star Streams and a Thousand Rubies
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Sidonio

Explanation: Big, bright, and beautiful, spiral galaxy M83 lies a mere
twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very
long constellation Hydra. About 40,000 light-years across, M83 is known
as the Southern Pinwheel for its pronounced spiral arms. But the wealth
of reddish star forming regions found near the edges of the arms' thick
dust lanes, also suggest another popular moniker for M83, the
Thousand-Ruby Galaxy. This new deep telescopic digital image also
records the bright galaxy's faint, extended halo. Arcing toward the
bottom of the cosmic frame lies a stellar tidal stream, debris drawn
from massive M83 by the gravitational disruption of a smaller, merging
satellite galaxy. Astronomers David Malin and Brian Hadley found the
elusive star stream in the mid 1990s by enhancing photographic plates.

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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2024 July 4

A Beautiful Trifid
Image Credit & Copyright: Jes+|s Carmona Guill+¼n

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

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

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2024 July 5

Mount Etna Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Gianni Tumino

Explanation: A glow from the summit of Mount Etna, famous active
stratovolcano of planet Earth, stands out along the horizon in this
mountain and night skyscape. Bands of diffuse light from congeries of
innumerable stars along the Milky Way galaxy stretch across the sky
above. In silhouette, the Milky Way's massive dust clouds are clumped
along the galactic plane. But also familiar to northern skygazers are
bright stars Deneb, Vega, and Altair, the Summer Triangle straddling
dark nebulae and luminous star clouds poised over the volcanic peak.
The deep combined exposures also reveal the light of active star
forming regions along the Milky Way, echoing Etna's ruddy hue in the
northern hemisphere summer's night.

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 6

NGC 7789: Caroline's Rose
Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco

Explanation: Found among the rich starfields of the Milky Way, star
cluster NGC 7789 lies about 8,000 light-years away toward the
constellation Cassiopeia. A late 18th century deep sky discovery of
astronomer Caroline Lucretia Herschel, the cluster is also known as
Caroline's Rose. Its visual appearance in small telescopes, created by
the cluster's complex of stars and voids, is suggestive of nested rose
petals. Now estimated to be 1.6 billion years young, the galactic or
open cluster of stars also shows its age. All the stars in the cluster
were likely born at the same time, but the brighter and more massive
ones have more rapidly exhausted the hydrogen fuel in their cores.
These have evolved from main sequence stars like the Sun into the many
red giant stars shown with a yellowish cast in this color composite.
Using measured color and brightness, astronomers can model the mass and
hence the age of the cluster stars just starting to "turn off" the main
sequence and become red giants. Over 50 light-years across, Caroline's
Rose spans about half a degree (the angular size of the Moon) near the
center of the sharp telescopic image.

Tomorrow's picture: cloudy skies
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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 July 7
A landscape shows the sky above, shallow water in front, and hills to
the right. The sunset sky is filled with beautifully multicolored
clouds. These clouds are clearly reflected by the calm water in front.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Iridescent Clouds over Sweden
Image Credit: Goran Strand

Explanation: Why are these clouds multi-colored? A relatively rare
phenomenon in clouds known as iridescence can bring up unusual colors
vividly -- or even a whole spectrum of colors simultaneously. These
polar stratospheric clouds also, known as nacreous and mother-of-pearl
clouds, are formed of small water droplets of nearly uniform size. When
the Sun is in the right position and, typically, hidden from direct
view, these thin clouds can be seen significantly diffracting sunlight
in a nearly coherent manner, with different colors being deflected by
different amounts. Therefore, different colors will come to the
observer from slightly different directions. Many clouds start with
uniform regions that could show iridescence but quickly become too
thick, too mixed, or too angularly far from the Sun to exhibit striking
colors. The featured image and an accompanying video were taken late in
2019 over Ostersund, Sweden.

Tomorrow's picture: red planet, blue planet
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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 July 8
A graphic illustrates hundreds of possible exoplanets, with blue
drawings of planets in the middle, red on the right, and tan on the
left. Some exoplanets are drawn with rings. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

Exoplanet Zoo: Other Stars
Illustration Credit & Copyright: Martin Vargic, Halcyon Maps

Explanation: Do other stars have planets like our Sun? Surely they do,
and evidence includes slight star wobbles created by the gravity of
orbiting exoplanets and slight star dimmings caused by orbiting planets
moving in front. In all, there have now been over 5,500 exoplanets
discovered, including thousands by NASA's space-based Kepler and TESS
missions, and over 100 by ESO's ground-based HARPS instrument. Featured
here is an illustrated guess as to what some of these exoplanets might
look like. Neptune-type planets occupy the middle and are colored blue
because of blue-scattering atmospheric methane they might contain. On
the sides of the illustration, Jupiter-type planets are shown, colored
tan and red from the scatterings of atmospheric gases that likely
include small amounts of carbon. Interspersed are many Earth-type rocky
planets of many colors. As more exoplanets are discovered and
investigated, humanity is developing a better understanding of how
common Earth-like planets are, and how common life might be in the
universe.

Tomorrow's picture: highest 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 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.
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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 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)
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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 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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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 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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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, NASAC╟╓s
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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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
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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 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)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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
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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 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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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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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
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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 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
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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 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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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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written by a professional astronomer.

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
__________________________________________________________________

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 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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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 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+ølek / 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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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 +√zkeser 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+¼s (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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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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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)
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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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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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 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

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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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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 August 15

Late Night Vallentuna
Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hed+¼n (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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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 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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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 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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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility Notices
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

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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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 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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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 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
__________________________________________________________________

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 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 C╟÷ 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 WayC╟╓s 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 C╟÷
currently no one knows what they are.

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 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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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 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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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 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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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 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)
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 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
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

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)
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 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)
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 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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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 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
__________________________________________________________________

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 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
__________________________________________________________________

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 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
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

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
__________________________________________________________________

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 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)
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 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
__________________________________________________________________

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

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

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.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important 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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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+Σski; 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.
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)