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 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 ourMilky Way galaxy,LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as "The Rotten Fish Nebula."The dusty molecular cloudis part of a complex of dark nebulae mapped toward theCepheus flare region.Across the spectrum,astronomical explorations of the obscuringinterstellar clouds reveal energetic shocks and outflowsassociated with newborn stars,including the telltale reddish glow from scatteredHerbig-Haroobjects hiding in the image.Distant background galaxies also lurk in the scene,almost buried behind the dusty expanse.This alluring viewspans over four full moons on the sky, or 35 light-years at theestimated distance of LDN 1251. Tomorrow's picture: colors of Saturn <| 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.
APOD: 2024 June 20 - Sandy and the Moon Halo 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 June 20 Sandy and the Moon Halo Image Credit &Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace Explanation: Last April's Full Moon shinesthrough high cloudsnear 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 thebright Moon's22 degree ice halo.But June's bright Full Moon will cast shadows too.This month, the Moon'sexact full phase occurs at 01:08 UTC June 22.That's a mere 28 hours or so aftertoday's June solstice(at 20:51 UTC June 20), the moment when the Sun reachesits maximum northern declination.Known to some as a Strawberry Moon, June's Full Moon isat its southernmost declination, and of course will create its own22 degree halosin hazy night skies. 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 June 21 Hubble's NGC 1546 Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, David Thilker (JHU) Explanation: Returning to science operationson June 14,the Hubble Space Telescope used its newpointing modeto capture this sharp image ofspiral galaxy NGC 1546.A member of theDorado galaxy group, the island universe liesa 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 andbluish regions of newly formed stars shining through thegalaxy's dust lanes.More distant background galaxies are scattered throughoutthis Hubble view.Launched in 1990, Hubble has beenexploring the cosmosfor more thanthree decades, recently celebrating its 34th anniversary. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| 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 June 20 Sandy and the Moon Halo Image Credit &Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace Explanation: Last April's Full Moon shinesthrough high cloudsnear 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 thebright Moon's22 degree ice halo.But June's bright Full Moon will cast shadows too.This month, the Moon'sexact full phase occurs at 01:08 UTC June 22.That's a mere 28 hours or so aftertoday's June solstice(at 20:51 UTC June 20), the moment when the Sun reachesits maximum northern declination.Known to some as a Strawberry Moon, June's Full Moon isat its southernmost declination, and of course will create its own22 degree halosin hazy night skies. 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.
APOD: 2024 June 14 - RCW 85 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 June 14 RCW 85 Image Credit &Copyright: Martin Pugh Explanation: From the 1960 astronomical catalog ofRodgers, 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 glowinghydrogen gas and dust is faint.But detailed structures along well-defined rimswithin RCW 85 are traced inthis cosmic skyscape composedof 28 hours of narrow and broadband exposures.Suggestive of dramatic shapes in otherstellar nurserieswhere natalclouds of gas and dust are sculpted by energetic winds and radiationfrom newborn stars, the tantalizing nebula has been called the Devil's Tower.This telescopic frame would span around 100 light-yearsat the estimated distanceof RCW 85. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| 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 June 15 Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun Image Credit &Copyright: Steen Søndergaard Explanation: This colorized and sharpened image of the Sun is composed offrames recording emission from hydrogen atoms in the solar chromosphereon May 15.Approaching the maximum ofsolar cycle 25,a multitude of active regionsand twisting, snake-like solar filaments are seento 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 edgeappear as bright solar prominences.The large prominences seen near 4 o'clock,and just before 9 o'clock around the solar limbare post flare loops from two powerfulX-class solar flaresthat bothoccurred on that day.In fact, the 4 o'clock prominence is associated with themonster active region AR 3664just rotating off the Sun's edge. Tomorrow's picture: How to destroy a star. <| 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.
APOD: 2024 June 13 - Messier 66 Close Up 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 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, beautifulspiralgalaxy Messier 66lies a mere 35 million light-years away.Thegorgeous island universeis about 100 thousand light-years across, similar in size to the Milky Way.ThisHubble Space Telescopeclose-up view spans a region about 30,000light-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 blackhole, obscuring dust lanes and young, blue star clusters sweepalong spiral armsdotted with the tell-tale glow of pinkish star forming regions.Messier 66, also known as NGC 3627, is the brightest of the threegalaxies in the gravitationally interactingLeo Triplet. 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 June 14 RCW 85 Image Credit &Copyright: Martin Pugh Explanation: From the 1960 astronomical catalog ofRodgers, 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 glowinghydrogen gas and dust is faint.But detailed structures along well-defined rimswithin RCW 85 are traced inthis cosmic skyscape composedof 28 hours of narrow and broadband exposures.Suggestive of dramatic shapes in otherstellar nurserieswhere natalclouds of gas and dust are sculpted by energetic winds and radiationfrom newborn stars, the tantalizing nebula has been called the Devil's Tower.This telescopic frame would span around 100 light-yearsat the estimated distanceof RCW 85. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| 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 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, beautifulspiralgalaxy Messier 66lies a mere 35 million light-years away.Thegorgeous island universeis about 100 thousand light-years across, similar in size to the Milky Way.ThisHubble Space Telescopeclose-up view spans a region about 30,000light-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 blackhole, obscuring dust lanes and young, blue star clusters sweepalong spiral armsdotted with the tell-tale glow of pinkish star forming regions.Messier 66, also known as NGC 3627, is the brightest of the threegalaxies in the gravitationally interactingLeo Triplet. 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.
APOD: 2024 June 7 - Sharpless 308: The Dolphin Head 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. 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 asSharpless 2-308it lies some 5,000 light-years away toward the well-trained constellationCanis Major andcovers slightly more of the sky than a Full Moon.Thatcorrespondsto a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance.The massive star that created the bubble, aWolf-Rayet star,is the bright onenear the centerof the nebula.Wolf-Rayet starshave over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are thought to be in a brief,pre-supernova phaseof massive star evolution.Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet starcreate 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 filtersin the deep imageis dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atomsmapped to a blue hue.Presenting amostly harmlessoutline, SH2-308 is also known as The Dolphin-head Nebula. Tomorrow's picture: pandora's galaxies <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar|...
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 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 imagepresents a stunning view of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 recorded bythe James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam.Also dubbed Pandora's Cluster, Abell 2744 itselfappears to be a ponderous merger of three different massive galaxyclusters.It lies some 3.5 billion light-years away, toward the constellationSculptor.Dominated bydark matter,the mega-cluster warps and distortsthe fabric of spacetime,gravitationally lensingeven more distant objects.Redder than the Pandora cluster galaxiesmany of the lensed sources are very distant galaxies in the earlyUniverse, their lensed images stretched and distorted into arcs.Of course distinctivediffraction spikes mark foreground Milky Waystars.At the Pandora Cluster's estimateddistance this cosmic box spans about 6 million light-years.But don't panic.You can explore the tantalizing region in a2 minute video tour. Tomorrow's picture: what's that? <| 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&...
APOD: 2024 June 6 - NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge 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 June 6 NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge Image Credit &Copyright: Lóránd Fényes Explanation: Magnificent spiral galaxyNGC 4565is 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 constellationComa Berenices.This sharp, colorful image reveals the galaxy'sboxy, bulgingcentral core cut byobscuring dust lanes that laceNGC 4565's thin galactic plane.NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spanssome 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes,skyenthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestialmasterpiece Messier missed. Tomorrow's picture: sky dolphin <| 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 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 asSharpless 2-308it lies some 5,000 light-years away toward the well-trained constellationCanis Major andcovers slightly more of the sky than a Full Moon.Thatcorrespondsto a diameter of 60 light-years at its estimated distance.The massive star that created the bubble, aWolf-Rayet star,is the bright onenear the centerof the nebula.Wolf-Rayet starshave over 20 times the mass of the Sun and are thought to be in a brief,pre-supernova phaseof massive star evolution.Fast winds from this Wolf-Rayet starcreate 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 filtersin the deep imageis dominated by the glow of ionized oxygen atomsmapped to a blue hue.Presenting amostly harmlessoutline, SH2-308 is also known as The Dolphin-head Nebula. Tomorrow's picture: pandora's galaxies <| 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 June 6 NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge Image Credit &Copyright: Lóránd Fényes Explanation: Magnificent spiral galaxyNGC 4565is 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 constellationComa Berenices.This sharp, colorful image reveals the galaxy'sboxy, bulgingcentral core cut byobscuring dust lanes that laceNGC 4565's thin galactic plane.NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spanssome 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes,skyenthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestialmasterpiece Messier missed. Tomorrow's picture: sky dolphin <| 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 June 3 NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis Image Credit &Copyright: (Team F.A.C.T.) Lilian Lbt - Cyrille Malo - Maxime Martin - ClémentDaniel - Paul Grasset - Louis Leroux-Géré Explanation: Magnificent island universeNGC 2403stands within the boundaries of the long-necked constellationCamelopardalis.Some 10 million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-yearsacross, the spiral galaxy also seems to have morethan its fair share of giant star formingHII regions,marked by the telltale reddish glow of atomic hydrogen gas.The giant HII regions are energized by clusters of hot, massive starsthat explode asbright supernovaeat 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 anabundance of star forming regions,M33, the Triangulum Galaxy.Spiky in appearance,bright stars inthis portrait of NGC 2403are in the foreground, within our own Milky Way.Also in the foreground of the deep, wide-field, telescopicimage are the Milky Way's dim and dustyinterstellar clouds also known asgalactic cirrus or integrated flux nebulae.But faint features that seem to extend fromNGC 2403 itselfare likely...