<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>05 February 2026<br><br><strong>Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/NGC1512_stern_960.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/NGC1512_stern_960.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Daniel Stern<br><br>Explanation: <br>Most galaxies don't have any rings -- why does this galaxy have three? <br><br>To begin, a ring that's near <br>NGC 1512's center -- <br>and so hard to see here -- is the <br>nuclear ring <br>which glows brightly with recently formed <br>stars. <br><br>Next out is a ring of stars and <br>dust appearing both red and blue, called, <br>counter-intuitively, the inner ring. <br><br>This inner ring connects ends of a diffuse <br>central bar <br>of stars that runs horizontally across the galaxy. <br><br>Farthest out in this wide field image is a <br>ragged structure that might be considered an outer ring.<br><br>This outer ring appears spiral-like and is dotted with <br>clusters of bright blue stars. <br><br>All these ring structures are thought to be affected by <br>NGC 1512's own gravitational asymmetries in a drawn-out process called <br>secular <br>evolution. <br><br>The featured image was captured last month from a telescope at <br>Deep Sky Chile in <br>Chile.<br><br>#APOD #NASA #NASAInspires #Astrophoto #Astronomy<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260204.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260204.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260204.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>04 February 2026<br><br><strong>Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/RedSpider_Webb_960.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/RedSpider_Webb_960.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. H. Kastner, RIT<br><br>Explanation: <br>Oh what a<br>tangled web<br>a planetary nebula can weave. <br><br>The Red Spider Planetary Nebula<br>shows the complex structure that can result when a<br>normal star ejects<br>its outer gases and becomes a<br>white dwarf star.<br><br>Officially tagged<br>NGC<br>6537, this two-lobed symmetric <br>planetary nebula<br>houses one of the<br>hottest white dwarfs ever observed,<br>probably as part of a binary star system. <br><br>Internal winds flowing out from the central stars,<br>have been measured in excess of 1,000 kilometers per second.<br><br>These<br>winds expand the<br>nebula, flow along the nebula's walls, and cause waves of hot<br>gas and<br>dust to collide. <br><br>Atoms<br>caught in these colliding shocks radiate light shown in the<br><br>featured false-color <br>infrared picture by the <br>James Webb Space Telescope. <br><br>The<br>Red Spider Nebula lies toward the constellation of the Archer <br>(Sagittarius). <br><br>Its distance is not well known but has been<br>estimated by some to be about 4,000 light-years.<br><br>#APOD #Astrogeek #Space #Universe #Astrophoto<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260203.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260203.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260203.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>03 February 2026<br><br><strong>Orion: The Running Man Nebula</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/RunningMan_Lyons_960.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/RunningMan_Lyons_960.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Robert G. Lyons, Robservatory<br><br>Explanation: <br>What part of Orion is this?<br><br>Just north of the famous <br>Orion Nebula is a picturesque <br>star <br>forming region in <br>Orion's Sword that contains a lot of intricate <br>dust -- some of which appears blue <br>because it reflects the light of <br>bright embedded stars. <br><br>The region's popular name is the <br>Running Man Nebula because, <br>looked at from the right, part of the brown dust appears to be running legs. <br><br>Cataloged as <br>Sharpless 279, <br>the reflection nebula is not only part of the <br>constellation of <br>Orion, but part of the greater <br>Orion molecular cloud complex. <br><br>Light from the Running Man's bright stars, including <br>42 Orionis, the bright star closest to the <br>featured image center, is slowly <br>destroying and reshaping the surrounding dust, <br>which will likely be <br>completely gone in about 10 million years. <br><br>The nebula spans about 15 <br>light years and lies about 1,500 light years away.<br><br>#APOD #Space #Astronomy #Science Astrophotography<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260202.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260202.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260202.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>02 February 2026<br><br><strong>Galle: Happy Face Crater on Mars</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/MarsHappyFace_mgs_960.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2602/MarsHappyFace_mgs_960.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: NASA, MGS, MSSS<br><br>Explanation: <br>Mars has put on a happy face. <br><br>The Martian crater <br>Galle is famous because it has <br>internal markings that make it look like a face that is both <br>smiling <br>and winking. <br><br>These markings were <br>originally <br>discovered in the 1970s in pictures taken by the <br>Viking Orbiter. <br><br>The <br>Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft that orbited <br>Mars from 1996 to 2006 captured the <br>featured picture. <br><br>Happy Face Crater and its iconic features were <br>formed by chance billions of years ago when a <br>city-sized asteroid <br>slammed into the Martian surface. <br><br>All rocky planets and moons in <br>our Solar System show <br>impact craters, <br>with the highest number of craters found on <br>Earth's Moon and the planet <br>Mercury.<br><br>Earth and <br>Venus <br>would show the most, though, were it not for weather and <br>erosion.<br><br>#APOD #GalleCrater #HappyFaceCrater #Mars #MartianGeology #ImpactCrater<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260201.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260201.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260201.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>01 February 2026<br><br><strong>Artemis I: Flight Day 13</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/art001e000672-orig1024c.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/art001e000672-orig1024c.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: NASA, Artemis I<br><br>Explanation: <br><br>On flight day 13<br>(November 28, 2022) of the Artemis 1 mission, the<br>Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth.<br><br>At over 430,000 kilometers from Earth, <br>its distant retrograde orbit also puts<br>Orion nearly 70,000 kilometers from the Moon.<br><br>In the<br>same field of view<br>in this video frame from flight day 13,<br>planet and large natural satellite<br>even appear about the same apparent size from<br>the spacecraft's perspective.<br><br>On flight day 26<br>(December 11, 2022),<br>the uncrewed spacecraft<br>splashed down on its home world concluding the historic Artemis I<br>mission.<br><br>The Artemis II<br>mission,<br>carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back<br>again, will launch no earlier than February 8.<br><br>#APOD #ArtemisI #FlightDay13 #OrionSpacecraft #MoonOrbit #EarthDistance<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260131.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260131.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260131.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>31 January 2026<br><br><strong>NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/NGC1333_Robert_Eder1024.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/NGC1333_Robert_Eder1024.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Robert Eder<br><br>Explanation: <br><br>NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a<br>reflection nebula,<br>dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by<br>interstellar dust.<br><br>A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation<br>Perseus,<br>it lies at the edge of a large,<br>star-forming molecular cloud.<br><br>This telescopic close-up spans<br>over two full moons on the sky or just<br>over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333.<br><br>It shows details of the dusty region<br>along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from<br>Herbig-Haro<br>objects, jets and shocked glowing gas<br>emanating from recently formed stars.<br><br>In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than<br>a million years old, most still<br>hidden from optical telescopes<br>by the pervasive stardust.<br><br>The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun<br>formed over 4.5 billion years ago.<br><br>#APOD #NGC1333 #StellarNursery #Perseus #ReflectionNebula #MolecularCloud<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260130.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260130.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260130.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>30 January 2026<br><br><strong>NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/NGC-2442-rev-1-crop-18-Jan-2026_1024.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/NGC-2442-rev-1-crop-18-Jan-2026_1024.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Mike Selby<br><br>Explanation: <br><br>Distorted galaxy NGC 2442<br>can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis)<br>Volans.<br><br>Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two<br>spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar give it a<br>hook-shaped appearance in this deep and colorful image,<br>with foreground stars scattered across the telescopic field of<br>view.<br><br>The image also reveals the distant galaxy's<br>obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and<br>reddish star forming regions<br>surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars.<br><br>But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along<br>the drawn-out (upper right)<br>spiral arm.<br><br>The distorted structure is likely the result of an ancient<br>close encounter<br>with a smaller galaxy that lies off top left of the frame.<br><br>This telescopic field of view<br>spans over 200,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442.<br><br>#APOD #NGC2442 #Galaxy #Volans #SouthernSky #SpiralGalaxy<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260129.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260129.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260129.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>29 January 2026<br><br><strong>M78: Reflecting Blue in a Sea of Red</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/M78Red_McCauley_1080.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/M78Red_McCauley_1080.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Daniel McCauley<br><br>Explanation: <br>In the vast Orion Molecular Cloud complex, <br>several bright blue nebulas are particularly apparent. <br><br>Pictured here in the center are two of the most prominent <br>reflection nebulas - <br>dust clouds lit by the <br>reflecting light of bright embedded <br>stars. <br><br>The more famous nebula is <br>M78, <br>in the image center, cataloged over 200 years ago. <br><br>To its upper left is the lesser known <br>NGC 2071. <br><br>Astronomers continue to <br>study these <br>reflection nebulas to <br>better understand how interior stars form. <br><br>The overall red glow is from diffuse <br>hydrogen gas <br>that covers much of the <br>Orion complex <br>that spans much of the <br>constellation of Orion.<br><br>Nearby in the <br>greater complex, <br>which lies about 1,500 <br>light years away, are the <br>Orion Nebula, <br>the Horsehead Nebula, and <br>Barnard's Loop -- <br>partially seen here as the white band on the upper left.<br><br>#APOD #M78 #OrionNebula #ReflectionNebula #OrionComplex #NGC2071<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260128.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260128.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260128.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>28 January 2026<br><br><strong>Orion's Treasures over Snowy Mountains</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/OrionTatras_Bubak_960.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/OrionTatras_Bubak_960.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Włodzimierz Bubak, Ogetay Kayali<br><br>Explanation: <br>Rising over a frozen valley in the <br>Tatra Mountains, the familiar stars and nebulas of <br>Orion dominate this wide-field nightscape. <br><br>The featured deep photo was <br>taken <br>in southern <br>Poland's <br>highest mountain range last month, where <br>dark skies and <br>alpine terrain combined to reveal both Earth's <br>rugged beauty and the structure of <br>our galaxy. <br><br>Above the snowy mountains, <br>Orion's bright belt stars <br>anchor a region of glowing interstellar clouds. <br><br>The Great Orion Nebula, a vast <br>stellar nursery visible even to the unaided eye, <br>shines near the center of the scene. <br><br>Surrounding it is the enormous arc of <br>Barnard's Loop, <br>a faint shell of <br>ionized hydrogen gas spanning much of the <br>constellation. <br><br>To the left, the round <br>Rosette Nebula glows softly, <br>while the grayish <br>Witch Head Nebula hovers to the right, <br>illuminated by nearby starlight. <br><br>Near the top, the orange supergiant <br>Betelgeuse <br>marks the hunter's shoulder.<br><br>#APOD #Orion #Stargazing #NightSky #TatraMountains #Poland<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260127.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260127.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260127.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

<p><strong>Astronomy Picture of the Day</strong><br><br>27 January 2026<br><br><strong>NGC 55: A Galaxy of Nebulas</strong><br><br><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/Ngc55_Promper_1080.jpg" class="vbx-media" target="_blank"><img class="venobox" src="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2601/Ngc55_Promper_1080.jpg"></a><br><br>Image Credit: Wolfgang Promper, Ogetay Kayali<br><br>Explanation: <br>Can you see nebulas in other galaxies? <br><br>Yes, some <br>nebulas shine brightly enough -- if you know how to look. <br><br>Clouds of <br>hydrogen and <br>oxygen <br>emit light at very specific colors, <br>and by isolating them, astronomers and astrophotographers <br>can reveal structures that would otherwise be <br>too faint to notice. <br><br>This deep, 50-hour exposure highlights glowing <br>hydrogen (red) and <br>oxygen (blue) across galaxy <br>NGC 55, viewed nearly <br>edge-on. <br><br>Also known as the <br>String of Pearls Galaxy, <br>NGC 55 is often compared to our <br>Milky Way's satellite galaxy the <br>Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), <br>although NGC 55 lies much farther away at about 6.5 million <br>light-years. <br><br>The resulting image <br>uncovers a sprinkling of <br>emission nebulas <br>within and sometimes above the galaxy's <br>dusty disk, <br>offering a detailed look at distant <br>star-forming regions.<br><br>#APOD #NGC55 #MilkyWayNeighbor #GalaxyOfNebulas #UnresolvedNebula #DeepSpace<br><br><np-embed url="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260126.html"><a href="https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260126.html">https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260126.html</a></np-embed><br></p>

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 26 January 2026 **Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars** Image Credit: NASA, LPL (U. Arizona), MRO, HiRISE Explanation: This moon is doomed. Mars, the red planet named for the Roman god of war, has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, whose names are derived from the Greek for Fear and Panic. These Martian moons may well be captured asteroids originating in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter or perhaps from even more distant reaches of our Solar System. The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seen to be a cratered, asteroid-like object in this stunning color image from the robotic Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which can image objects as small as 10 meters. But Phobos orbits so close to Mars - about 5,800 kilometers above the surface compared to 400,000 kilometers for our Moon - that gravitational tidal forces are dragging it down. In perhaps 50 million years, Phobos is expected to disintegrate into a ring of debris. #APOD #Phobos #Mars #MartianMoons #Astronomy #Astrophysics https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260125.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 25 January 2026 **Earthset from Orion** Image Credit: NASA, Artemis 1 Explanation: Eight billion people are about to disappear in this snapshot from space taken on 2022 November 21. On the sixth day of the Artemis I mission, their home world is setting behind the Moon's bright edge as viewed by an external camera on the outbound Orion spacecraft. Orion was headed for a powered flyby that took it to within 130 kilometers of the lunar surface. Velocity gained in the flyby maneuver was used to reach a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. That orbit is considered distant because it's another 92,000 kilometers beyond the Moon, and retrograde because the spacecraft orbited in the opposite direction of the Moon's orbit around planet Earth. Swinging around the Moon, Orion reached a maximum distance (just over 400,000 kilometers) from Earth on 2022 November 28, exceeding a record set by Apollo 13 for most distant spacecraft designed for human space exploration. The Artemis II mission, carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back again, is due to launch as early as February 6. #APOD #Earthset #OrionSpacecraft #ArtemisI #LunarFlyby #SpaceObservations https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260124.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 24 January 2026 **Planetary Nebula Abell 7** Image Credit: Martin Pugh Explanation: Very faint planetary nebula Abell 7 is about 1,800 light-years distant. It lies just south of Orion in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation Lepus, The Hare. Posing with scattered Milky Way stars, its generally simple spherical shape about 8 light-years in diameter is revealed in this deep telescopic image. The beautiful and complex shapes seen within the cosmic cloud are visually enhanced by the use of long exposures and narrowband filters that capture emission from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. Otherwise Abell 7 would be much too faint to be appreciated by eye. A planetary nebula represents a very brief final phase in stellar evolution that our own Sun will experience 5 billion years hence, as the nebula's central, once sun-like star shrugs off its outer layers. Abell 7 itself is estimated to be 20,000 years old. But its central star, seen here as a fading white dwarf, is some 10 billion years old. #APOD #Abell7 #PlanetaryNebula #Orion #Lepus #DeepSky https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260123.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 22 January 2026 **LDN 1622: Dark Nebula in Orion** Image Credit: Chris Fellows Explanation: The silhouette of an intriguing dark nebula inhabits this cosmic scene. Lynds' Dark Nebula (LDN) 1622 appears against a faint background of glowing hydrogen gas only visible in long telescopic exposures of the region. In contrast, a brighter reflection nebula, vdB 62, is more easily seen just above the dusty dark nebula. LDN 1622 lies near the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, close on the sky to Barnard's Loop, a large cloud surrounding the rich complex of emission nebulae found in the Belt and Sword of Orion. With swept-back outlines, the obscuring dust of LDN 1622 is thought to lie at a similar distance, perhaps 1,500 light-years away. At that distance, this 3 degree wide field of view would span about 100 light-years. Young stars do lie hidden within the dark expanse and have been revealed in Spitzer Space telescope infrared images. Still, the foreboding visual appearance of LDN 1622 inspires its popular name, the Boogeyman Nebula. #APOD #LDN1622 #DarkNebula #OrionNebula #MilkyWay #BarnardsLoop https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260122.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 21 January 2026 **Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb** Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, NOIRLab, STScI Explanation: A mere 56 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Fornax, NGC 1365 is an enormous barred spiral galaxy about 200,000 light-years in diameter. That's twice the size of our own barred spiral Milky Way. This sharp image from the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals stunning details of this magnificent spiral in infrared light. Webb's field of view stretches about 60,000 light-years across NGC 1365, exploring the galaxy's core and bright newborn star clusters. The intricate network of dusty filaments and bubbles is created by young stars along spiral arms winding from the galaxy's central bar. Astronomers suspect the gravitational field of NGC 1365's bar plays a crucial role in the galaxy's evolution, funneling gas and dust into a star-forming maelstrom and ultimately feeding material into the active galaxy's central, supermassive black hole. #APOD #NGC1365 #BarredSpiralGalaxy #JamesWebb #WebbSpaceTelescope #InfraredAstronomy https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260121.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 19 January 2026 **CTB 1: The Medulla Nebula** Image Credit: Pierre Konzelmann Explanation: What powers this unusual nebula? CTB 1 is the expanding gas shell that was left when a massive star toward the constellation of Cassiopeia exploded about 10,000 years ago. The star likely detonated when it ran out of elements, near its core, that could create stabilizing pressure with nuclear fusion. The resulting supernova remnant, nicknamed the Medulla Nebula for its brain-like shape, still glows in visible light because of the heat generated by its collision with confining interstellar gas. Why the nebula also glows in X-ray light, though, remains a topic of research. One hypothesis holds that an energetic pulsar was created and powers the nebula with a fast outwardly moving wind. Following this lead, a pulsar was found in radio waves that appears to have been expelled by the supernova explosion at over 1000 kilometers per second. Although the Medulla Nebula appears as large as a full moon, it is so faint that it took 84-hours of exposure with a small telescope in Texas, USA, to create the featured image. #APOD #astronomy #CTB1 #MedullaNebula #nebula #celestial https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260119.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 18 January 2026 **Apollo 14: A View from Antares** Image Credit: Apollo 14, NASA, Eric M. Jones Explanation: Apollo 14's Lunar Module Antares landed on the Moon on February 5, 1971. Toward the end of the stay astronaut Ed Mitchell snapped a series of photos of the lunar surface while looking out a window, assembled into this detailed mosaic by Apollo Lunar Surface Journal editor Eric Jones. The view looks across the Fra Mauro highlands to the northwest of the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completed their second and final walk on the Moon. Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter, a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples. Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbed Turtle rock. In the shallow crater below Turtle rock is the long white handle of a sampling instrument, thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell. Mitchell's fellow moonwalker and first American in space, Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six iron to hit two golf balls. One of Shepard's golf balls is just visible as a white spot below Mitchell's javelin. #APOD #Apollo14 #Antares #LunarModule #NASA #LunarSurface https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260117.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 17 January 2026 **NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula** Image Credit: Justus Falk 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. #APOD #NGC7023 #IrisNebula #Cepheus #Nebula #ReflectionNebula https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260116.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 16 January 2026 **Plato and the Lunar Alps** Image Credit: Luigi Morrone Explanation: The dark-floored, 95 kilometer wide crater Plato and sunlit peaks of the lunar Alps (Montes Alpes) are highlighted in this this sharp telescopic snapshot of the Moon's surface. While the Alps of planet Earth were uplifted over millions of years as continental plates slowly collided, the lunar Alps were likely formed by a sudden collision that created the giant impact basin known as the Mare Imbrium or Sea of Rains. The mare's generally smooth, lava-flooded floor is seen below the bordering mountain range. The prominent straight feature cutting through the mountains is the lunar Alpine Valley (Vallis Alpes). Joining the Mare Imbrium and northern Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold) the valley extends toward the upper right, about 160 kilometers long and up to 10 kilometers wide. Of course, the large, bright lunar alpine mountain below and right of Plato crater is named Mont Blanc. Lacking an atmosphere, not to mention snow, the lunar Alps are probably not an ideal location for a winter vacation. Still, a 150 pound skier would weigh a mere 25 pounds on the Moon. #APOD #PlatoCrater #LunarAlps #MontesAlpes #MareImbrium #LunarValleys https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260115.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 15 January 2026 **M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy** Image Credit: Michael Sleeman Explanation: The Whirlpool Galaxy is a classic spiral galaxy. At only 30 million light years distant and fully 60 thousand light years across, M51, also known as NGC 5194, is one of the brightest and most picturesque galaxies on the sky. The featured deep image is a digital combination of images taken in different colors over 58 hours with a telescope from Lijiang, China. Anyone with a good pair of binoculars, however, can see this Whirlpool toward the constellation of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici). M51 is a spiral galaxy of type Sc and is the dominant member of a whole group of galaxies. Astronomers speculate that M51's spiral structure is primarily due to its gravitational interaction with the smaller galaxy just above it. #APOD #M51 #WhirlpoolGalaxy #NGC5194 #SpiralGalaxy #Astronomy https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260114.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 13 January 2026 **Meteor Dust** Image Credit: Xu Chen Explanation: What's happening to this meteor? It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere and heats up. The sudden high temperatures not only cause the bright glow along the dramatic streak but also melt and vaporize the meteor's component rock and ice, creating dust. Wind in the atmosphere typically blows this dust away over the next few seconds, leaving no visible trace after only a few minutes. Much of this dust will eventually settle down to the Earth. The featured image was captured in mid-December, coincident with the Geminids meteor shower. On the upper left is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, while in the foreground is fog-engulfed Huangshan, the Yellow Mountains of eastern China. #APOD #Astrogeek lookUp #Astronomy #NASA https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260112.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 12 January 2026 **M104: The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared** Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, SSC, R. Kennicutt, Steward Obs. Explanation: This floating ring is the size of a galaxy. In fact, it is a galaxy -- or at least part of one: the photogenic Sombrero Galaxy, one of the largest galaxies in the nearby Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. The dark band of dust that obscures the mid-section of the Sombrero Galaxy in visible light actually glows brightly in infrared light. The featured image, digitally sharpened, shows the infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an existing image taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in visible light. The Sombrero Galaxy, also known as M104, spans about 50,000 light years and lies 28 million light years away. M104 can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the constellation Virgo. #APOD #Astroeducation #Cosmos #Science #NASAInspires https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260111.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 11 January 2026 **Jupiter with the Great Red Spot** Image Credit: Christopher Go Explanation: Jupiter reaches its 2026 opposition today, January 10. That puts our Solar System's most massive planet opposite the Sun and near its closest and brightest for viewing from planet Earth. In fact, captured only 3 days ago this sharp telescopic snapshot reveals excellent details of the ruling gas giant's swirling cloudtops, in light zones and dark belts girdling the rapidly rotating outer planet. Jupiter's famous, persistent anticyclonic vortex, known as the Great Red Spot, is south of the equator at the lower right. But two smaller red spots are also visible, one near the top in the northernmost zone, and one close to Jupiter's south pole. And while Jupiter's Great Red Spot is known to be shrinking, it's still about the size of the Earth itself. #APOD #Jupiter #GreatRedSpot #SolarSystem #Opposition2026 #SpaceObservation https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260110.html

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**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 03 January 2026 **Full Moonlight** Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai The Full Moon is the brightest lunar phase, and tonight you can stand in the light of the first Full Moon of 2026. In fact, the Moon's full phase occurs on January 3 at 10:03 UTC, while only about 7 hours later planet Earth reaches its 2026 perihelion, the closest point in its elliptical orbit around the Sun, at 17:16 UTC. January's Full Moon was also not far from its own perigee, or closest approach to planet Earth. For this lunation the Moon's perigee was on January 1 at 21:44 UTC. You can also spot planet Jupiter, near its brightest for 2026 and close on the sky to the Full Moon tonight. But while you're out skygazing don't forget to look for rare, bright fireballs from the Quadrantid meteor shower. #APOD #Astroeducation #Astroengineering #SpaceTech #Cosmology https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260103.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 02 January 2026 **NanoSail-D2** Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh In 2011, on January 20, NASA's NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very thin and very reflective 10 square meter sail becoming the first solar sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff of science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by astronomer Johannes Kepler, who had observed comet tails blown by the solar wind. But modern solar sail spacecraft designs, like NanoSail-D2, Japan's interplanetary spacecraft IKAROS, or the Planetary Society's Lightsail A, rely on the small but continuous pressure from sunlight itself for thrust. Glinting in the sunlight as it circled planet Earth, NanoSail-D2's solar sail was periodically bright and visible to the eye. These remarkably detailed images were captured by manually tracking the orbiting solar sail spacecraft with a small telescope. #APOD #SpaceAdventures #Stellar #Planets #MeteorShowers https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260102.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 01 January 2026 **Auroral Corona** Image Credit & Copyright: Roi Levi Cycle 25 solar maximum made 2025 a great year for aurora borealis (or aurora australis) on planet Earth. And the high level of solar activity should extend into 2026. So, while you're celebrating the arrival of the new year, check out this spectacular auroral display that erupted in starry night skies over Kirkjufell, Iceland. The awesome auroral corona, energetic curtains of light streaming from directly overhead, was witnessed during a strong geomagnetic storm triggered by intense solar activity near the March 2025 equinox. This northland and skyscape captures the evocative display in a 21 frame panoramic mosaic. #APOD #StarCluster #RocketScience #SpaceTechnology #SpaceObservatory https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260101.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 31 December 2025 **HH-222: The Waterfall Nebula** Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby What created the Waterfall Nebula? The origin is still being researched. The structure, officially designated Herbig-Haro 222, appears in the region of NGC 1999 in the Great Orion Molecular Cloud complex. The elongated gaseous stream stretches about ten light years but appears similar to a long waterfall on Earth. Recent observations indicate that HH-222 is likely a gigantic gaseous bow shock, similar to a wave of water caused by a fast-moving ship. The origin of this shock wave is thought to be a jet outflow from the multiple star system V380 Orionis off the lower left of the frame. Therefore, gas does not flow along the waterfall, but rather the entire structure moves toward the upper right. The Waterfall Nebula lies about 1,500 light years away toward the constellation of Orion. The featured image was captured earlier this month from El Sauce Observatory in Chile. Jigsaw Nebula: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day #APOD #Galaxy #Space #Stellar #SpaceResearch https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251231.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 30 December 2025 **An Artificial Comet** Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Chao Yes, but can your comet tail do this? No, and what you are seeing is not the tail of a comet. The picture features a cleverly overlayed time-lapse sequence of a group of satellites orbiting Earth together in June. Specifically, these are Starlink communications satellites in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight before sunrise to Inner Mongolia, China. Although the satellites appear to the human eye as points, the 20-second-long camera exposures caused them to appear as short streaks. Currently there are over 9000 Starlinks in orbit, with more being launched nearly every week. Other satellite constellations are also being planned. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator #APOD #Astrogeology #Cosmos #Astrochemistry #Cosmological https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251230.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 29 December 2025 **M1: The Crab Nebula** Image Credit & Copyright: Alan Chen This is the mess that is left when a star explodes. The Crab Nebula, the result of a supernova seen in 1054 AD, is filled with mysterious filaments. The filaments are not only tremendously complex but appear to have less mass than expelled in the original supernova and a higher speed than expected from a free explosion. The featured image was taken by an amateur astronomer in Leesburg, Florida, USA over three nights last month. It was captured in three primary colors but with extra detail provided by specific emission by hydrogen gas. The Crab Nebula spans about 10 light years. In the Nebula's very center lies a pulsar: a neutron star as massive as the Sun but with only the size of a small town. The Crab Pulsar rotates about 30 times each second. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator #APOD #Galaxy #SpaceMission #SpaceInnovation #Astrogeology https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251229.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 28 December 2025 **NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ Jewels don't shine this bright -- only stars do. And almost every spot in this jewel-box of an image from the Hubble Space Telescope is a star. Now, some stars are more red than our Sun, and some more blue -- but all of them are much farther away. Although it takes light about 8 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun, NGC 1898 is so far away that it takes light about 160,000 years to get here. This huge ball of stars, NGC 1898, is called a globular cluster and resides in the central bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) -- a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way Galaxy. The featured multi-colored image includes light from the infrared to the ultraviolet and was taken to help determine if the stars of NGC 1898 all formed at the same time or at different times. There are increasing indications that most globular clusters formed stars in stages, and that, in particular, stars from NGC 1898 formed shortly after ancient encounters with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and our Milky Way Galaxy. Space Telescopes Live: Where are Hubble and Webb looking right now? #APOD #Astrobiology #Astrophoto #Meteorology #LunarMission https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251228.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 02 December 2025 **M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward the constellation of the Sea Monster (Cetus). At that estimated distance, this gorgeous island universe is about 100 thousand light-years across. Also known as NGC 1068, its compact and very bright core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies. M77's active core glows bright at x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and radio wavelengths. The featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The image shows details of the spiral's winding spiral arms as traced by obscuring red dust clouds and blue star clusters, all circling the galaxy's bright white luminous center. Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm #APOD #Astroknowledge #Astroinformatics #NASAInspires #Universe https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251202.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 01 December 2025 **3I ATLAS: Tails of an Interstellar Comet** Image Credit & Copyright: Victor Sabet & Julien De Winter How typical is our Solar System? Studying 3I/ATLAS, a comet just passing through, is providing clues. Confirmed previous interstellar visitors include an asteroid, a comet, a meteor, and a gas wind dominated by hydrogen and helium. Comet 3I/ATLAS appears relatively normal when compared to Solar System comets, therefore providing more evidence that our Solar System is a somewhat typical star system. For example, Comet 3I/ATLAS has a broadly similar chemical composition and ejected dust. The featured image was captured last week from Texas and shows a green coma, a wandering blue-tinted ion tail likely deflected by our Sun's wind, and a slight anti-tail, all typical cometary attributes. The comet, visible with a telescope, passed its closest to the Sun in late October and will pass its closest to the Earth in mid-December, after which it will return to interstellar space and never return. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator #APOD #Celestial #Galaxy #Astrotheory #Astrogeology https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251201.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 30 November 2025 **The Surface of Titan from Huygens** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ If you could stand on Titan -- what would you see? The featured color view from Titan gazes across an unfamiliar and distant landscape on Saturn's largest moon. The scene was recorded by ESA's Huygens probe in 2005 after a 2.5-hour descent through a thick atmosphere of nitrogen laced with methane. Bathed in an eerie orange light at ground level, rocks strewn about the scene could well be composed of water and hydrocarbons frozen solid at an inhospitable temperature of negative 179 degrees C. The large light-toned rock below and left of center is only about 15 centimeters across and lies 85 centimeters away. The saucer-shaped spacecraft is believed to have penetrated about 15 centimeters into a place on Titan's surface that had the consistency of wet sand or clay. Huygen's batteries enabled the probe to take and transmit data for more than 90 minutes after landing. Titan's bizarre chemical environment may bear similarities to planet Earth's before life evolved. #APOD #AstronomyLovers #SpaceMissions #Meteorology #SpaceMission https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251130.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 29 November 2025 **Moon Games** Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer This is not a screen from a video game. Nestled below the tree-line, the small mountain church does look like it might be hiding from Moon though. In the well-composed telephoto snapshot, taken on November 23, the church walls are partly reflecting light from terrestrial flood lights. Of course, the Moon is reflecting light from the Sun. At any given time the Sun illuminates fully half of the Moon's surface, also known as the lunar dayside, but on that night only a sliver of its sunlit surface was visible. About three days after New Moon, the Moon was in a waxing crescent phase. The single exposure was captured shortly after sunset in skies near Danta di Cadore, northern Italy, planet Earth. #APOD #Astroinformatics #Cosmos #Astrozone #NASA https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251129.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 28 November 2025 **NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula** Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Bass NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a about 25 light-years across, a cosmic bubble blown by winds from its central, massive star. This deep telescopic image includes narrowband image data, to isolate light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the nebula's detailed folds and filaments. Visible within the nebula, NGC 6888's central star is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the Sun's mass every 10,000 years. In fact, the Crescent Nebula's complex structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate and near the end of its stellar life, this star should ultimately go out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years away. #APOD #NASAInspires #Planetarium #PlanetaryScience #RocketLaunch https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251128.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 27 November 2025 **Portrait of NGC 1055** Image Credit & Copyright: John Hayes Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the aquatically intimidating constellation Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island universe spans over 100,000 light-years, a little larger than our own Milky Way galaxy. The colorful, spiky stars decorating this cosmic portrait of NGC 1055 are in the foreground, well within the Milky Way. But telltale pinkish star forming regions and young blue star clusters are scattered through winding dust lanes along the distant galaxy's thin disk. With a smattering of even more distant background galaxies, the deep image also reveals a boxy halo that extends far above and below the central bulge and disk of NGC 1055. The halo itself is laced with faint, narrow structures, and could represent the mixed and spread out debris from a satellite galaxy disrupted by the larger spiral some 10 billion years ago. #APOD #SpaceWeather #SpaceTechnology #Astrospace #StarCluster https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251127.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 26 November 2025 **Globular Cluster M15 Deep Field** Image Credit & Copyright: Alvaro Ibanez Perez Stars, like bees, swarm around the center of bright globular cluster M15. The central ball of over 100,000 stars is a relic from the early years of our Galaxy, and continues to orbit the Milky Way's center. M15, one of about 150 globular clusters remaining, is noted for being easily visible with only binoculars, having at its center one of the densest concentrations of stars known, and containing a high abundance of variable stars and pulsars. The featured image of M15 was taken by combining very long exposures -- 122 hours in all -- and so brings up faint wisps of gas and dust in front of the giant ball of stars. M15 lies about 35,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Winged Horse (Pegasus). Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator #APOD #Science #Astrophoto #Galaxy #SpaceDiscovery https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251126.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 25 November 2025 **Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way** Image Credit & Copyright: Lin Zixuan (Tsinghua U.) What did Comet Lemmon look like when it was at its best? One example is pictured here, featuring three celestial spectacles all at different distances. The closest spectacle is the snowcapped Meili Mountains, part of the Himalayas in China. The middle marvel is Comet Lemmon near its picturesque best early this month, showing not only a white dust tail trailing off to the right but its blue solar wind-distorted ion tail trailing off to the left. Far in the distance on the left is the magnificent central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy, featuring dark dust, red nebula, and including billions of Sun-like stars. Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is already fading as it heads back into the outer Solar System, while the Himalayan mountains will gradually erode over the next billion years. The Milky Way Galaxy, though, will live on -- forming new mountains and comets -- for many billions of years into the future. #APOD #Universe #SpaceFacts #Celestial #Astroengineering https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251125.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 24 November 2025 **Apep: Unusual Dust Shells from Webb** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ What created this unusual space sculpture? Stars. This unusual system of swirls and shells, known as Apep, was observed in unprecedented detail by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in infrared light in 2024. Observations indicate that the unusual shape originates from two massive Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting each other every 190 years with each close passes causing a new shell of dust and gas to be expelled. Holes in these shells are thought to be caused by a third orbiting star. This stellar dust dance will likely continue for hundreds of thousands of years, possibly ending only when one of the massive stars runs out of internal nuclear fuel and explodes in a supernova punctuated by a burst of gamma-rays. Build your own star system: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day #APOD #SpaceTechnology #SpaceTravel #SpaceInnovation #Astroengineering https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251124.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 23 November 2025 **The Observable Universe** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you -- is the observable universe. In light, the farthest we can see comes from the cosmic microwave background, a time 13.8 billion years ago when the universe was opaque like thick fog. Some neutrinos and gravitational waves that surround us come from even farther out, but humanity does not yet have the technology to detect them. The featured image illustrates the observable universe on an increasingly compact scale, with the Earth and Sun at the center surrounded by our Solar System, nearby stars, nearby galaxies, distant galaxies, filaments of early matter, and the cosmic microwave background. Cosmologists typically assume that our observable universe is just the nearby part of a greater entity known as "the universe" where the same physics applies. However, there are several lines of popular but speculative reasoning that assert that even our universe is part of a greater multiverse where either different physical constants occur, different physical laws apply, higher dimensions operate, or slightly different-by-chance versions of our standard universe exist. Explore the Observable Universe: Random APOD Generator #APOD #MilkyWay #Astrogeek #Cosmological #Astronauts https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251123.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 22 November 2025 **Dione and Rhea Ring Transit** Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Go Seen to the left of Saturn's banded planetary disk, small icy moons Dione and Rhea are caught passing in front of the gas giant's extensive ring system in this sharp telescopic snapshot. The remarkable image was recorded on November 20, when Saturn's rings were nearly edge-on when viewed from planet Earth. In fact, every 13 to 16 years the view from planet Earth aligns with Saturn's ring plane to produce a series of ring plane crossings. During a ring plane crossing, the interplanetary edge-on perspective makes the thin but otherwise bright rings seem to disappear. By November 23rd Saturn's rings will have reached a minimum angle for now, at their narrowest for viewing from planet Earth, but then start to widen again. Of course, Dione and Rhea orbit Saturn near the ring plane once every 2.7 and 4.5 days respectively, while the next series of Saturn ring plane crossings as seen from Earth will begin again in 2038. #APOD #Astrocosmos #SpaceExploration #Cosmology #Meteorology https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251122.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 21 November 2025 **3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth** Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri Now outbound after its perihelion or closest approach to the Sun on October 29, Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our fair Solar System. Its greenish coma and faint tails are seen against a background of stars in the constellation Virgo in this view from planet Earth, recorded with a small telescope on November 14. But this interstellar interloper is the subject of an on-going, unprecedented Solar System-wide observing campaign involving spacecraft and space telescopes from Earth orbit to the surface of Mars and beyond. And while the comet from another star-system has recently grown brighter, you'll still need a telescope if you want to see 3I/ATLAS from planet Earth. It's now above the horizon in November morning skies and will make its closest approach to Earth, a comfortable 270 million kilometers distant, around December 19. #APOD #SpaceTechnology #Galactic #Planets #Cosmology https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251121.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 20 November 2025 **Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka** Image Credit & Copyright: Aygen Erkaslan Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka are the bright bluish stars from east to west (upper right to lower left) along the diagonal in this cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie from 700 to 2,000 light-years away, born of Orion's well-studied interstellar clouds. In fact, clouds of gas and dust adrift in this region have some surprisingly familiar shapes, including the dark Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula near Alnitak at the upper right. The famous Orion Nebula itself is off the right edge of this colorful starfield. The telescopic frame spans almost 4 degrees on the sky. #APOD #NASA #Astrobiology #Astrotheory #SpaceTravel https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251120.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 19 November 2025 **Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas** Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li & Houbo Zhao 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 11.4-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, a bright star Beta Chamaeleontis is visible on the upper right of the V, 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: a 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. #APOD #Astrophoto #RocketScience #AstronomyFacts #Astroeducation https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251119.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 17 November 2025 **Comet Lemmon's Wandering Tail** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ What has happened to Comet Lemmon's tail? The answer is blowing in the wind — the wind from the Sun in this case. This continuous outflow of charged particles from the Sun has been quite variable of late, as the Sun emits bursts of energy, CMEs, that push out and deflect charged particles emitted by the comet itself. The result is a blue hued ion tail for Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) that is not only impressively intricate but takes some unusual turns. This long-duration composite image taken from Alfacar, Spain last month captured this inner Solar System ionic tumult. Comet Lemmon is now fading as it heads out away from the Earth and Sun and back into the outer Solar System. #APOD #Astrophoto #SpaceMissions #Astrozone #Astroinformatics https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251117.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 16 November 2025 **Crossing Saturn's Ring Plane** _Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info._ If this is Saturn, where are the rings? When Saturn's "appendages" disappeared in 1612, Galileo did not understand why. Later that century, it became understood that Saturn's unusual protrusions were rings and that when the Earth crosses the ring plane, the edge-on rings will appear to disappear. This is because Saturn's rings are confined to a plane many times thinner, in proportion, than a razor blade. In modern times, the robotic Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn frequently crossed Saturn's ring plane during its mission to Saturn, from 2004 to 2017. A series of plane crossing images from 2005 February was dug out of the vast online Cassini raw image archive by interested Spanish amateur Fernando Garcia Navarro. Pictured here, digitally cropped and set in representative colors, is the striking result. Saturn's thin ring plane appears in blue, bands and clouds in Saturn's upper atmosphere appear in gold. Details of Saturn's rings can be seen in high dark shadows. The moons Dione and Enceladus appear as bumps in the rings. #APOD #SpaceIndustry #NASAInspires #SpaceResearch #OuterSpace https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251116.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 15 November 2025 **Andromeda and Friends** Image Credit & Copyright: Piotr Czerski This magnificent extragalactic skyscape looks toward the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest large spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. It also accomplishes a Messier catalog trifecta by including Andromeda, cataloged as Messier 31 (M31), along with Messier 32 (M32), and Messier 110 (M110) in the same telescopic field of view. In this frame, M32 is just left of the Andromeda Galaxy's bright core with M110 below and to the right. M32 and M110 are both elliptical galaxies themselves and satellites of the larger spiral Andromeda. By combining 60 hours of broadband and narrowband image data, the deep telescopic view also reveals tantalizing details of dust lanes, young star clusters, and star-forming regions along Andromeda's spiral arms, and faint, foreground clouds of glowing hydrogen gas. For now, Andromeda and friends are some 2.5 million light-years from our own large spiral Milky Way. #APOD #Astroinformatics #StarFormation #Research #Astrotheory https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251115.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 14 November 2025 **Florida Northern Lights** Image Credit & Copyright: Samil Cabrera Northern lights have come to Florida skies. In fact, the brilliant streak of a Northern Taurid meteor flashes through the starry night sky above the beach in this sea and skyscape, captured from Shired Island, Florida on November 11. Meteors from the annual Northern Taurid meteor shower are expected this time of year. But the digital camera exposure also records the shimmering glow of aurora, a phenomenon more often seen from our fair planet's higher geographical latitudes. Also known as aurora borealis, these northern lights are part of recent, wide spread auroral activity caused by strong geomagnetic storms. In the last few days, stormy spaceweather has been triggered by multiple Earth impacting coronal mass ejections and intense solar activity. #APOD #SpaceWeather #Astroinformatics #SpaceObservatory #SpaceAdventures https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251114.html

**Astronomy Picture of the Day** 13 November 2025 **Orion and the Running Man** Image Credit & Copyright: R. Jay Gabany Few cosmic vistas can excite the imagination like The Great Nebula in Orion. Visible as a faint, bland celestial smudge to the naked-eye, the nearest large star-forming region sprawls across this sharp colorful telescopic image. Designated M42 in the Messier Catalog, the Orion Nebula's glowing gas and dust surrounds hot, young stars. About 40 light-years across, M42 is at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away that lies within the same spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy as the Sun. Including dusty bluish reflection nebula NGC 1977, also known as the Running Man nebula at left in the frame, the natal nebulae represent only a small fraction of our galactic neighborhood's wealth of star-forming material. Within the well-studied stellar nursery, astronomers have also identified what appear to be numerous infant solar systems. #APOD #Astroeducation #Astroinformatics #SpaceMission #Astronauts https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251113.html