APOD: 2022 July 16 - Tycho and Clavius at Dawn Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 16 Tycho and Clavius at Dawn Image Credit &Copyright:EduardoSchaberger Poupeau Explanation: South is upin this dramatic telescopic view of thelunar terminatorand the Moon's rugged southern highlands.The lunar landscape was captured on July 7with the moon at itsfirst quarter phase.The Sun shines at a low angle from the rightas dawn comes to the region's young and old cratersTycho and Clavius.About 100 million years young,Tycho isthe sharp-walled 85 kilometer diameter crater below and left of center.Its 2 kilometer tall central peak and far crater wall reflectbright sunlight,Its smooth floor lies in dark shadow.Debris ejected during the impact that created Tycho make it thestandout lunar crater when theMoon is near full though.They produce a highly visible radiating system of light streaks orrays that extend across much of the lunar near side.In fact, some of the material collected at the Apollo 17 landing site,about 2,000 kilometers away, likely originatedfrom the Tycho impact. One of the oldest and largest craters on the Moon's near side,225 kilometer diameterClavius is due south(above)...

APOD: 2022 July 15 - Lubovna Full Moon Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 15 Lubovna Full Moon Petr Horalek /Institute of Physics in Opava Explanation: On July 13 this well-planned telephoto view recorded a Full Moonrising overLubovna Castle in eastern Slovakia.The photographer was about 3 kilometers from the castle walls andabout 357,000 kilometers from thisFull Moon near perigee, the closestpoint in its elliptical orbit.Known to some as supermoons, full moons near perigeeare a little brighter andlarger in planet Earth's sky whencompared to full moons that occur near theaverage lunar distanceof around 384,000 kilometers.Of course anyFull Moon near the horizoncan show the effects ofrefraction over a long sight-line through dense clear atmosphere.In this image, atmospheric refraction creates the slight green flashframed by thin clouds near the top, with a raggedred rim along the bottom edge ofJuly's perigee Full Moon. Tomorrow's picture: Clavius and Tycho<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC& Michigan Tech. U.

APOD: 2022 July 14 - Webb's Southern Ring Nebula Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 14 Webb's Southern Ring Nebula Image Credit: NASA,ESA,CSA,STScI,NIRCam Explanation: Cataloged as NGC 3132the Southern Ring Nebula is aplanetary nebula,the death shroud of adying sun-like star some 2,500 light-years from Earth.Composed of gas and dust the stunningcosmic landscape is nearly halfa light-year in diameter, explored inunprecedented detail by theJames Webb Space Telescope.In this NIRCam image the bright star near centeris a companion of the dying star.In mutual orbit, the star whose transformation has ejectedthe nebula's gas and dust shells over thousands of yearsis the fainter stellar partner.Evolving to become a white dwarf,the faint star appears along thediffraction spike extending towardthe 8 o'clock position.This stellar pair's orbital motion has resulted thecomplex structures within the Southern Ring Nebula. Tomorrow's picture: Clavius and Tycho<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC& Michigan Tech. U.

APOD: 2022 July 13 - Webb s First Deep Field Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 13 Webb's First Deep Field Image Credit: NASA,ESA,CSA,STScI,NIRCam Explanation: This is the deepest,sharpest infrared image of the cosmos so far.The viewof theearly Universetoward the southern constellation Volanswas achieved in 12.5 hours of exposure with the NIRCam instrument on theJames Webb Space Telescope.Of course the stars with six visible spikes are well within our ownMilky Way.Their diffractionpattern is characteristic of Webb's 18 hexagonal mirrorsegments operating together as a single 6.5 meter diameter primarymirror.The thousands of galaxies flooding the field of view are members of thedistant galaxy cluster SMACS0723-73, some 4.6 billion light-years away.Luminous arcs that seem to infest the deep field areeven more distant galaxies though.Their images are distorted and magnified by thedark matter dominated mass of the galaxy cluster, an effectknown as gravitational lensing.Analyzing lightfrom two separate arcs below the bright spiky star,Webb's NIRISS instrument indicates the arcsare both images of the same background galaxy.And that galaxy's light took about 9.5 billion years to reach theJames Webb Space Telescope. Tomorrow's picture: closer to home<| Archive|...

It's northern noctilucent cloud season.

APOD: 2022 July 11 - Andromeda over the Sahara Desert Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 11 Andromeda over the Sahara Desert Credit & Copyright: Jordi Coy Explanation: What is the oldest thing you can see?At 2.5 million light years distant, the answer for the unaided eye is the Andromeda galaxy, because its photons are 2.5 million years old when they reach you.Most other apparent denizens of the night sky -- stars, clusters, and nebulae -- appear as they were only a few hundred to a few thousand years ago, as they lie well within our own Milky Way Galaxy. Given its distance, light from Andromeda is likely also the farthest object that you can see. Also known as M31, the Andromeda Galaxy dominates the center of the featured zoomed image, taken from the Sahara Desert in Morocco last month. The featured image is a combination of three background and one foreground exposure -- all taken with the same camera and from the same location and on the same calendar day -- with the foreground image taken during the evening blue...

APOD: 2022 July 10 - In the Center of the Cats Eye Nebula Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 10 In the Center of the Cat's Eye Nebula Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, HLA; Reprocessing & Copyright: Raul Villaverde Explanation: Three thousand light-years away,a dying star throws off shells of glowing gas.This image from theHubble Space Telescope reveals theCat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543), to be one of the most complex planetary nebulae known.Spanning half a light-year, the features seen in theCat's Eyeare so complex that astronomers suspect the brightcentral objectmay actually be abinary star system.The term planetary nebula, used to describe thisgeneral class of objects, ismisleading.Although these objects may appear round andplanet-like in small telescopes,high resolution images with large telescopes reveal them to bestars surrounded by cocoons of gas blown off in the late stages ofstellar evolution.Gazing into this Cat's Eye,astronomers may well be seeing more than detailed structure,they may be seeing the fate of our Sun, destined to enter its ownplanetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about5 billion years. Tomorrow's picture: sahara andromeda <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar|...

Soaring high in skies around planet Earth, bright planet

With roots on a

APOD: 2022 July 7 - The NGC 6914 Complex Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 7 The NGC 6914 Complex Image Credit &Copyright: Giorgio Ferrari Explanation: A study in contrasts,this colorful skyscapefeaturesstars, dust, and glowing gasin the vicinity of NGC 6914.Theinterstellar complex of nebulaelies some 6,000 light-years away,toward the high-flying northern constellationCygnus and the plane of ourMilky Way Galaxy.Obscuring interstellar dust clouds appear insilhouette while reddish hydrogenemission nebulae,along with the dusty bluereflection nebulae,fill the cosmic canvas.Ultraviolet radiation from the massive, hot, young stars of the extensiveCygnus OB2association ionize the region's atomichydrogen gas, producingthe characteristic red glow as protons and electrons recombine.Embedded Cygnus OB2 stars also provide theblue starlight strongly reflected by the dust clouds.The over 1 degree wide telescopic field of view spansabout 100 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 6914. Tomorrow's picture: star treels<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC& Michigan Tech. U.

Our sky is alive with the streams of stars.

APOD: 2022 July 5 - A Molten Galaxy Einstein Ring Galaxy Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 5 A Molten Galaxy Einstein Ring Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, S. Jha; Processing: Jonathan Lodge Explanation: It is difficult to hide a galaxy behind a cluster of galaxies. The closer cluster's gravity will act like a huge lens, pulling images of the distant galaxy around the sides and greatly distorting them. This is just the case observed in the featured image recently re-processed image from the Hubble Space Telescope. The cluster GAL-CLUS-022058c is composed of many galaxies and is lensing the image of a yellow-red background galaxy into arcs seen around the image center. Dubbed a molten Einstein ring for its unusual shape, four images of the same background galaxy have been identified.Typically, a foreground galaxy cluster can only create such smooth arcs if most of its mass is smoothly distributed -- and therefore not concentrated in the cluster galaxies visible. Analyzing the positions of these gravitational arcs gives astronomers a method to estimate the dark matter distribution in galaxy clusters, as well...

APOD: 2022 July 4 - Strawberry Supermoon Over Devils Saddle Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 4 Strawberry Supermoon Over Devil's Saddle Image Credit & Copyright: Lorenzo Busilacchi Explanation: Near the horizonthe full moon often seems to loom large,swollen in appearance by the famous Moon illusion.But time-lapse image sequences demonstrate that the Moon's angular size doesn't really change as it rises or sets.Its color does, though.Recording a frame about every 60 seconds, this image also shows howred the Sun can look while low on the horizon.The featured montage was taken from Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, the day after June'sStrawberry Moon, a full moon dubbed a supermoon due toits slightly larger-than-usual angular size. This Strawberry Supermoon is seen rising behind the Devil's Saddle, a mountain named for the unusual moon-sized dip seen just to the right of the rising moon.A shrinking line-of-sight through planet Earth'sdense and dusty atmosphere shifted the moonlight fromstrawberry red through honey-colored and paler yellowish hues.That change seems appropriate for a northern June Full Moonalso known as theStrawberry orHoney Moon.A Thunder Supermoon -- the third of four supermoons in 2022...

APOD: 2022 July 3 - Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 3 Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars Image Credit: HiRISE,MRO,LPL (U. Arizona),NASA Explanation: This moon is doomed.Mars,the red planet named for theRoman god of war, has two tiny moons,Phobos andDeimos, whosenames are derived from the Greek for Fear andPanic.These martian moons may well be capturedasteroidsoriginating in the main asteroid belt between Mars andJupiteror perhaps from even more distant reaches of our Solar System.The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seento be a cratered, asteroid-like object in thisstunning color image from the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,with objects as small as 10 meters visible.But Phobos orbits so close to Mars - about 5,800 kilometers above the surface compared to 400,000 kilometersfor our Moon - that gravitationaltidal forces are dragging it down.In perhaps 50 million years, Phobos is expected to disintegrate into a ring of debris. Tomorrow's picture: strawberry supermoon <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important...

APOD: 2022 July 2 - Solargraphic Analemmas Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 2 Solargraphic Analemmas Image Credit &Copyright: Dawid Rycabel(Pinholove) Explanation: For the northern hemisphere June 21 was the summer solstice,the Sun reachingits northernmost declination for the year.That would put it at the top of each of these threefigure-8 curves, or analemmas,as it passed through the daytime sky over the village of Proboszczow, Poland.No sequence of digital exposures was used to construct theremarkable image though.Using a pinhole camera fixed to face southduring the period June 26, 2021 to June 26, 2022,the image was formed directly on a single sheet of photographic paper, atechnique known as solargraphy.The three analemmas are the result of briefly exposing the photopaper through the pinhole each day at 11:00, 12:00, and 13:00 CET.Groups of dashed lines on the sides show partial tracks of the Sunfrom daily exposures made every 15 minutes.Over the year-longsolargraphic photo opportunityclouds blocking the Sun during the pinhole exposures createdthe dark gaps. Tomorrow's picture: doomed moon of Mars<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors:...

APOD: 2022 July 1 - The Solar System's Planet Trails Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 July 1 The Solar System's Planet Trails Image Credit &Copyright: Zheng Zhi Explanation: Stars trail through a clear morning sky inthis postcard froma rotating planet.The timelapse image is constructed from consecutive exposures madeover nearly three hours with a camera fixed to a tripod besidethe Forbidden City in Beijing, China on June 24.Arcing above the eastern horizon after the series ofexposures began,a waning crescent Moon left the brightest streak and watery reflection.On that date theplanets of the Solar Systemwere alsolined up along the eclipticand left their own trails before sunrise. Saturn was first to rise on that morning and the ringed planet's trailstarts close to the top right edge, almost out of the frame.Innermost planet Mercury rose only just before the Sun though.It left the shortest trail, visible against the twilightnear the horizon at the far left.Uranus and Neptune are faint and hard to find,but mingled with the star trails theSolar System'splanet trails are all labeled in the scene. Tomorrow's picture: analemmas from a can<| Archive| Submissions...

APOD: 2022 June 30 - Comet C 2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 June 30 Comet C/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS) Image Credit &Copyright: Jose J. Chambo (Cometografia) Explanation: Imaged on June 20 2022, cometC/2017 K2 (PanSTARRS)shares this widetelescopic field of view with open star cluster IC 4665 and bright starBeta Ophiuchi, near a starry edge of the Milky Way.On its maiden voyage to the inner Solar Systemfrom the dim anddistant Oort cloud,this comet PanSTARRS was initially spotted over five years ago,in May 2017.Then it was themost distant active inbound cometever found,discovered when it was some 2.4 billion kilometers from the Sun.That put it between theorbital distancesof Uranus and Saturn.Hubble Space Telescopeobservations indicatedthe comet had a large nucleus less than 18 kilometers in diameter. Now visible insmall telescopes C/2017 K2will make its closest approachto planet Earth on July 14 and closest approach to the Sun this December.Its extended coma and developing tail areseen here at a distance of some 290 million kilometers, a mere16 light-minutes away. Tomorrow's picture: solar system trails<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD|...

APOD: 2022 June 29 - Solar System Family Portrait Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 June 29 Solar System Family Portrait Image Credit & Copyright: Alexis Trigo Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen all of the planets at once?A rare roll-call of planets has been occurring in the morning sky for much of June. The featured fisheye all-sky image, taken a few mornings ago near the town of San Pedro de Atacama in Chile, caught not only the entire planet parade, but the Moon between Mars and Venus. In order, left to right along the ecliptic plane, members of this Solar System family portrait are Earth, Saturn, Neptune, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, Venus, Mercury, and Earth. To emphasize their locations, Neptune and Uranus have been artificially enhanced.The volcano just below Mercury is Licancabur.In July, Mercury will move into the Sun's glare but reappear a few days later on the evening side. Then, in August, Saturn will drift past the direction opposite the Sun and so become visible at dusk instead of dawn. The next time that all eight planets will be simultaneously...

APOD: 2022 June 28 - Mercury from Passing BepiColombo Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 June 28 Mercury from Passing BepiColombo Image Credit & License: ESA, JAXA, BepiColombo, MTM Explanation: Which part of the Moon is this? No part -- because this is the planet Mercury. Mercury's old surface is heavily cratered like that of Earth's Moon. Mercury, while only slightly larger than Luna, is much denser and more massive than any Solar System moon because it is made mostly of iron. In fact, our Earth is the only planet more dense. Because Mercury rotates exactly three times for every two orbits around the Sun, and because Mercury's orbit is so elliptical, visitors on Mercury could see the Sun rise, stop in the sky, go back toward the rising horizon, stop again, and then set quickly over the other horizon. From Earth, Mercury's proximity to the Sun causes it to be visible only for a short time just after sunset or just before sunrise.The featured image was captured last week by ESA and JAXA's passing BepiColombo spacecraft as it sheds energy and...

APOD: 2022 June 27 - The Gum Nebula over Snowy Mountains Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2022 June 27 The Gum Nebula over Snowy Mountains Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Jin Explanation: The Gum Nebula is so large and close it is actually hard to see.This interstellar expanse of glowing hydrogen gas frequently evadesnotice because it spans 35 degrees -- over 70 full Moons -- while much of it is quite dim.This featured spectacular 90-degree wide mosaic, however, was designed to be both wide and deep enough to bring up the Gum -- visible in red on the right.The image was acquired late last year with both the foreground -- including Haba Snow Mountain -- and the background -- including the Milky Way's central band -- captured by the same cameraand from the same location in Shangri-La, Yunnan, China.The Gum Nebula is so close that we are only about450 light-years from the front edge, while about 1,500 light-years from the back edge.Named for a cosmic cloud hunter, Australian astronomerColin Stanley Gum(1924-1960), the origin of this complexnebula is still being debated.A leading theory...