APOD: 2024 September 20 - A Hazy Harvest 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. 2024 September 20 A Hazy Harvest Moon Image Credit &Copyright:Petr Horálek /Institute of Physics in Opava Explanation: For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon wasthe Harvest Moon.On September 17/18 the sunlit lunar nearside passed into shadow, justgrazing Earth's umbra, the planet's dark, central shadow cone, in apartial lunar eclipse.Over the two and half hours before dawna camera fixed to a tripodwas used to record thisseries of exposuresas the eclipsed Harvest Moon set behind Spiš Castlein the hazy morning sky over eastern Slovakia.Famed in festival, story, and song,Harvest Moon is just the traditional name of the full moon nearest theautumnalequinox. According to lore the name is a fitting one.Despite the diminishing daylight hours as thegrowing seasondrew to a close, farmers could harvest crops by the light of a full moonshining onfrom dusk to dawn.This September's Harvest Moon was also known to some as a supermoon,a term becoming a traditional name for afull moon near perigee. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss|...
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 21 Sunrise Shadows in the Sky Image Credit &Copyright:Emili Vilamala Explanation: The defining astronomical momentof this September's equinox is at 12:44 UTC on September 22,when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving south in itsyearly journey through planet Earth's sky.That marks the beginning offall for our fair planetin the northern hemisphere and spring in the southern hemisphere,when day and night are nearly equal around the globe. Of course, if you celebrate theastronomical change of seasonsby watching a sunrise you can alsolook for crepuscular rays.Outlined by shadows cast by clouds, crepuscular rayscan have a dramatic appearance in thetwilight sky during any sunrise (or sunset).Due to perspective, the parallel cloud shadows will seem topoint back to the rising Sunand a placedue east on your horizon on the equinox date.But in this spectacular sunrise skyscape captured in early June,the parallel shadows and crepuscular raysappear to converge toward an eastern horizon'smore northerly sunrise. The well-composed photo placesthe rising Sun just behind the bell tower of a churchin the town of Vic, province of Barcelona,...
APOD: 2024 September 19 - The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus 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. 2024 September 19 The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus Image Credit &Copyright:Davide Broise Explanation: Spanning light-years, thissuggestiveshape known as the Seahorse Nebulafloats in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars.Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus,the dusty, dark nebula is part of a Milky Waymolecular cloud some 1,200 light-years distant.It is also listed as Barnard 150 (B150), one of 182dark markings of the skycataloged in the early 20th century by astronomerE. E.Barnard.Packs of low mass stars are formingwithin,but their collapsing cores are only visible at longinfraredwavelengths.Still, the colorful Milky Way stars of Cepheus add to this stunninggalactic skyscape. Growing Gallery: This week's supermoon eclipse Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space<| 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,NASA ScienceActivation& Michigan Tech. U.
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 20 A Hazy Harvest Moon Image Credit &Copyright:Petr Horálek /Institute of Physics in Opava Explanation: For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon wasthe Harvest Moon.On September 17/18 the sunlit lunar nearside passed into shadow, justgrazing Earth's umbra, the planet's dark, central shadow cone, in apartial lunar eclipse.Over the two and half hours before dawna camera fixed to a tripodwas used to record thisseries of exposuresas the eclipsed Harvest Moon set behind Spiš Castlein the hazy morning sky over eastern Slovakia.Famed in festival, story, and song,Harvest Moon is just the traditional name of the full moon nearest theautumnalequinox. According to lore the name is a fitting one.Despite the diminishing daylight hours as thegrowing seasondrew to a close, farmers could harvest crops by the light of a full moonshining onfrom dusk to dawn.This September's Harvest Moon was also known to some as a supermoon,a term becoming a traditional name for afull moon near perigee. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors:...
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 19 The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus Image Credit &Copyright:Davide Broise Explanation: Spanning light-years, thissuggestiveshape known as the Seahorse Nebulafloats in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars.Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus,the dusty, dark nebula is part of a Milky Waymolecular cloud some 1,200 light-years distant.It is also listed as Barnard 150 (B150), one of 182dark markings of the skycataloged in the early 20th century by astronomerE. E.Barnard.Packs of low mass stars are formingwithin,but their collapsing cores are only visible at longinfraredwavelengths.Still, the colorful Milky Way stars of Cepheus add to this stunninggalactic skyscape. Growing Gallery: This week's supermoon eclipse Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space<| 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,NASA ScienceActivation& Michigan Tech. U.
APOD: 2024 September 13 - Aurora Australis and the International Space Station 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. 2024 September 13 Aurora Australis and the International Space Station Image Credit: NASA,ISSExpedition 71 Explanation: This snapshotfrom theInternational Space Stationwas taken on August 11while orbiting about 430 kilometersabove the Indian Ocean, Southern Hemisphere,planet Earth.The spectacular view looks south and east,down toward the planet's horizon and through red and greencurtains ofaurora australis.The auroral glow is caused by emission from excited oxygenatoms in the extremely rarefiedupper atmospherestill present at the level of the orbiting outpost.Green emission from atomic oxygen dominates this sceneat altitudes of 100 to 250 kilometers, while red emissionfrom atomic oxygen can extend as high as 500 kilometers altitude.Beyond the glow of these southern lights, this viewfrom low Earth orbit reveals the starry sky from a southernhemisphere perspective.Stars in Orion's belt and the Orion Nebula are near the Earth's limbjust left of center.Sirius, alpha star ofCanis Majorand brightest star in planet Earth'snight is above centeralong the right edge of the southern orbital skyscape. Looking Up:International Observe the Moon Night Tomorrow's picture: If the Moon could...
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 14 The Moona Lisa Image Credit &Copyright:Gianni SarconeandMarcella Giulia Pace Explanation: Only natural colorsof the Moon in planet Earth's sky appear in this creative visual presentation.Arrangedas pixelsin a framed image, the lunar disks were photographed at different times.Their varying hues are ultimately due to reflected sunlightaffected by changing atmospheric conditions and thealignmentgeometry of Moon, Earth, and Sun.Here, the darkest lunar disks are thecolors of earthshine.A description of earthshine, in terms of sunlight reflected by Earth'soceans illuminating the Moon's dark surface, was written over 500 yearsago by Leonardo da Vinci. But stand farther back from your screen or just shift your gaze to thesmaller versions of the image.You might also see one of da Vinci's most famousworks of art. Tonight:International Observe the Moon Night Tomorrow's picture: lunar pronouns<| 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,NASA ScienceActivation& Michigan Tech. U.
APOD: 2024 September 12 - Young Star Cluster NGC 1333 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. 2024 September 12 Young Star Cluster NGC 1333 Image Credit: ESA/Webb,NASA,CSA,A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana Explanation: This spectacular mosaicof images from the James Webb Space Telescope peers intothe heart of young star cluster NGC 1333.A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellationPerseus,the nearby star cluster liesat the edge of the large Perseus molecular cloud.Part of Webb's deepexplorationof the region to identifylow mass brown dwarf stars and free floating planets,the space telescope's combined field of view spans nearly 2 light-yearsacross the dusty cluster'sturbulent stellar nursery.In fact, NGC 1333 is known to harbor stars less thana million years old, though most arehidden from optical telescopesby the pervasive stardust.The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sunformed over 4.5 billion years ago. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space<| 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,NASA ScienceActivation&...
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 13 Aurora Australis and the International Space Station Image Credit: NASA,ISSExpedition 71 Explanation: This snapshotfrom theInternational Space Stationwas taken on August 11 while orbiting about 430 kilometersabove the Indian Ocean, Southern Hemisphere,planet Earth.The spectacular view looks south and east,down toward the planet's horizon and through red and greencurtains ofaurora australis.The auroral glow is caused by emission from excited oxygenatoms in the extremely rarefiedupper atmospherestill present at the level of the orbiting outpost.Green emission from atomic oxygen dominates this sceneat altitudes of 100 to 250 kilometers, while red emissionfrom atomic oxygen can extend as high as 500 kilometers altitude.Beyond the glow of these southern lights, this viewfrom low Earth orbit reveals the starry sky from a southernhemisphere perspective.Stars in Orion's belt and the Orion Nebula are near the Earth's limbjust left of center.Sirius, alpha star ofCanis Majorand brightest star in planet Earth'snight is above centeralong the right edge of the southern orbital skyscape. Looking Up:International Observe the Moon Night Tomorrow's picture: If the Moon could smile<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search|...
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 12 Young Star Cluster NGC 1333 Image Credit: ESA/Webb,NASA,CSA,A. Scholz, K. Muzic, A. Langeveld, R. Jayawardhana Explanation: This spectacular mosaicof images from the James Webb Space Telescope peers intothe heart of young star cluster NGC 1333.A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellationPerseus,the nearby star cluster liesat the edge of the large Perseus molecular cloud.Part of Webb's deepexplorationof the region to identifylow mass brown dwarf stars and free floating planets,the space telescope's combined field of view spans nearly 2 light-yearsacross the dusty cluster'sturbulent stellar nursery.In fact, NGC 1333 is known to harbor stars less thana million years old, though most arehidden from optical telescopesby the pervasive stardust.The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sunformed over 4.5 billion years ago. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space<| 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,NASA ScienceActivation& Michigan Tech. U.
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 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 shownin both these panels.Theimages were taken in 2009,by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiterspacecraft, NASA's long-livedinterplanetary internetsatellite.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 predictionwas not based on scientific principles, buthis writings and ideas were so influential that the two Martian moonsare 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<| Archive| Submissions | Index|...
APOD: 2024 September 6 - Ringed Ice Giant Neptune 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. 2024 September 6 Ringed Ice Giant Neptune Image Credit: NASA,ESA,CSA,STScI,NIRCam Explanation: Ringed ice giant Neptunelies near the center of this sharpnear-infrared image from theJames Webb Space Telescope.The dim and distant world is thefarthest planet from the Sun,about 30 times farther away than planet Earth.But in the stunning Webb view, the planet's dark and ghostly appearanceis due to atmospheric methane that absorbs infrared light.High altitude clouds that reach above most of Neptune's absorbing methaneeasily stand out in the image though.Coated with frozen nitrogen, Neptune's largest moon Triton isbrighter than Neptune in reflected sunlight,seen at the upper left sporting the Webb telescope's characteristicdiffraction spikes.Including Triton, seven of Neptune's 14 known moons can beidentifiedin the field of view.Neptune's faint ringsare striking in this space-basedplanetary portrait.Details of the complex ring system are seen here for the firsttime since Neptune was visited by theVoyager 2 spacecraft in August 1989. Tomorrow's picture: terrorizing Mars<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA...
APOD: 2024 September 5 - NGC 247 and Friends 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. 2024 September 5 NGC 247 and Friends Image Credit &Copyright: Acquisition -Eric Benson,Processing -DietmarHager Explanation: About 70,000 light-years across,NGC 247is a spiral galaxy smaller than our Milky Way.Measured to beonly 11 million light-years distant it is nearby though.Tilted nearly edge-on as seenfrom our perspective,it dominates this telescopic field of view toward thesouthern constellation Cetus.The pronounced void on one side of the galaxy's disk recallsfor some its popular name, the Needle's Eye galaxy.Many background galaxies are visible inthis sharp galaxy portrait,including the remarkable string of four galaxiesjust below and left of NGC 247 known as Burbidge's Chain.Burbidge's Chain galaxiesare about 300 million light-years distant.NGC 247 itself is part of the Sculptor Group of galaxies along withshiny spiral NGC 253. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA Web Privacy,Accessibility NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC,NASA Science Activation& Michigan Tech. U.
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 6 Ringed Ice Giant Neptune Image Credit: NASA,ESA,CSA,STScI,NIRCam Explanation: Ringed ice giant Neptunelies near the center of this sharpnear-infrared image from theJames Webb Space Telescope.The dim and distant world is thefarthest planet from the Sun,about 30 times farther away than planet Earth.But in the stunning Webb view, the planet's dark and ghostly appearanceis due to atmospheric methane that absorbs infrared light.High altitude clouds that reach above most of Neptune's absorbing methaneeasily stand out in the image though.Coated with frozen nitrogen, Neptune's largest moon Triton isbrighter than Neptune in reflected sunlight,seen at the upper left sporting the Webb telescope's characteristicdiffraction spikes.Including Triton, seven of Neptune's 14 known moons can beidentifiedin the field of view.Neptune's faint ringsare striking in this space-basedplanetary portrait.Details of the complex ring system are seen here for the firsttime since Neptune was visited by theVoyager 2 spacecraft in August 1989. Tomorrow's picture: terrorizing Mars<| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip NewmanSpecific rights...
Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. 2024 September 5 NGC 247 and Friends Image Credit &Copyright: Acquisition -Eric Benson,Processing -DietmarHager Explanation: About 70,000 light-years across,NGC 247is a spiral galaxy smaller than our Milky Way.Measured to beonly 11 million light-years distant it is nearby though.Tilted nearly edge-on as seenfrom our perspective,it dominates this telescopic field of view toward thesouthern constellation Cetus.The pronounced void on one side of the galaxy's disk recallsfor some its popular name, the Needle's Eye galaxy.Many background galaxies are visible inthis sharp galaxy portrait,including the remarkable string of four galaxiesjust below and left of NGC 247 known as Burbidge's Chain.Burbidge's Chain galaxiesare about 300 million light-years distant.NGC 247 itself is part of the Sculptor Group of galaxies along withshiny spiral NGC 253. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA Web Privacy,Accessibility NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC,NASA Science Activation& Michigan Tech. U.