APOD

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Experience the cosmos directly from your nostr feed with the APOD Bot! Every day, I share NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, complete with detailed explanations. Marvel at the mysteries of space and learn something new about our universe every day. Stay tuned for daily celestial surprises!

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2024-09-09 04:09:57

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
09 September 2024
**Mars: Moon, Craters, and Volcanos**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/MarsPan_ExpressLuck_2048.jpg
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If you could fly over Mars, what might you see? The featured image shows exactly this in the form of a Mars Express vista captured over a particularly interesting region on Mars in July. The picture's most famous feature is Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the Solar System, visible on the upper right. Another large Martian volcano is visible on the right horizon: Pavonis Mons. Several circular impact craters can be seen on the surface of the aptly named red planet. Impressively, this image was timed to capture the dark and doomed Martian moon Phobos, visible just left of center. The surface feature on the lower left, known as Orcus Patera, is unusual for its large size and oblong shape, and mysterious because the processes that created it still remain unknown. ESA's robotic Mars Express spacecraft was launched in 2003 and, among many notable science discoveries, bolstered evidence that Mars was once home to large bodies of water.
#APOD #Astrophoto #Exoplanets #Cosmology #Astrospace
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240909.html

2024-09-08 04:09:56

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
08 September 2024
**M31: The Andromeda Galaxy**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/M31_HstSubaruGendler_5000.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
R. Gendler &
R. Croman
The most distant object easily visible to the unaided eye is M31, the great Andromeda Galaxy. Even at some two and a half million light-years distant, this immense spiral galaxy -- spanning over 200,000 light years -- is visible, although as a faint, nebulous cloud in the constellation Andromeda. A bright yellow nucleus, dark winding dust lanes, and expansive spiral arms dotted with blue star clusters and red nebulae, are recorded in this stunning telescopic image which combines data from orbiting Hubble with ground-based images from Subaru and Mayall. In only about 5 billion years, the Andromeda galaxy may be even easier to see -- as it will likely span the entire night sky -- just before it merges with, or passes right by, our Milky Way Galaxy. Teachers & Students: Ideas for using APOD in the classroom
#APOD #Astrophysics #SpaceDiscovery #Astrotheory #SpaceMission
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240908.html

2024-09-05 00:04:03

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
05 September 2024
**NGC 247 and Friends**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/NGC247-Hag-Ben2048.JPG
Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Benson
About 70,000 light-years across, NGC 247 is a spiral galaxy smaller than our Milky Way. Measured to be only 11 million light-years distant it is nearby though. Tilted nearly edge-on as seen from our perspective, it dominates this telescopic field of view toward the southern constellation Cetus. The pronounced void on one side of the galaxy's disk recalls for some its popular name, the Needle's Eye galaxy. Many background galaxies are visible in this sharp galaxy portrait, including the remarkable string of four galaxies just below and left of NGC 247 known as Burbidge's Chain. Burbidge's Chain galaxies are about 300 million light-years distant. NGC 247 itself is part of the Sculptor Group of galaxies along with shiny spiral NGC 253.
#APOD #SpaceInnovation #Stars #Universe #Planetarium
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240905.html

2024-09-01 04:09:31

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
01 September 2024
**The Moon Dressed Like Saturn**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/SaturnMoon_Sojuel_1824.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Francisco Sojuel
Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn't -- what is pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon. The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible by reflected Earthlight, known as Da Vinci glow. The Sun directly illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019 December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan towns are visible behind the huge volcano Pacaya. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #Astrobiology #SpaceStation #NASA #CosmicWonders
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240901.html

2024-08-31 04:06:25

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
31 August 2024
**IFN and the NGC 7771 Group**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/NGC7769_70_71_Mandel.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Steve Mandel
Galaxies of the NGC 7771 Group are featured in this intriguing skyscape. Some 200 million light-years distant toward the constellation Pegasus, NGC 7771 is the large, edge-on spiral near center, about 75,000 light-years across, with two smaller galaxies below it. Large spiral NGC 7769 is seen face-on to the right. Galaxies of the NGC 7771 group are interacting, making repeated close passages that will ultimately result in galaxy-galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The interactions can be traced by distortions in the shape of the galaxies themselves and faint streams of stars created by their mutual gravitational tides. But a clear view of this galaxy group is difficult to come by as the deep image also reveals extensive clouds of foreground dust sweeping across the field of view. The dim, dusty galactic cirrus clouds are known as Integrated Flux Nebulae. The faint IFN reflect starlight from our own Milky Way Galaxy and lie only a few hundred light-years above the galactic plane.
#APOD #SpaceResearch #Astrophoto #PlanetaryExploration #Astrofans
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240831.html

2024-08-29 04:06:24

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
29 August 2024
**Star Factory Messier 17**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/M17SwanMaxant_2048.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Gaetan Maxant
A nearby star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this 1.5 degree wide field-of-view would span about 150 light-years. In the sharp color composite image faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds are highlighted with narrowband image data against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. The stellar winds and energetic radiation from hot, massive stars already formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material, producing the nebula's cavernous appearance and the undulating shapes within. A popular stop on telescopic tours of the cosmos, M17 is also known as the Omega or the Swan Nebula.
#APOD #SpaceTravel #RocketLaunch #GalaxyExploration #SpaceObservatory
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240829.html

2024-08-26 04:08:20

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
26 August 2024
**Perseid Meteors Over Inner Mongolia**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/CwrvN0Q9_Sg?rel=0
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Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is similar to the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across the sky -- while knowing that they were once small pebbles on another world -- might make it all worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s) can't always share in your experience. The featured video is composed of short clips taken in Inner Mongolia, China during the 2023 Perseid Meteor Shower. Several bright meteors were captured while live-reaction audio was being recorded -- just as the meteors flashed. This year's 2024 Perseids also produced many beautiful meteors. Another good meteor shower to watch for is the Geminids which peak yearly in mid-December, this year with relatively little competing glow from a nearly new Moon. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #LunarExploration #CosmosJourney #SpaceFacts #Astrodata
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240826.html

2024-08-25 04:08:19

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 August 2024
**Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/EnceladusStripes_Cassini_3237.jpg
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Do underground oceans vent through canyons on Saturn's moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual surface features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size, appears quite dead. An analysis of ejected ice grains has yielded evidence that complex organic molecules exist inside Enceladus. These large carbon-rich molecules bolster -- but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus' surface could contain life. Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
#APOD #GalacticAdventures #Astrofans #AstronautLife #Astroinformatics
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240825.html

2024-08-24 04:07:59

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
24 August 2024
**South Pacific Shadowset**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/FijiMoonsetWangJin.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: full Moon
The full Moon and Earth's shadow set together in this island skyscape. The alluring scene was captured Tuesday morning, August 20, from Fiji, South Pacific Ocean, planet Earth. For early morning risers shadowset in the western sky is a daily apparition. Still, the grey-blue shadow is often overlooked in favor of a brighter eastern horizon. Extending through the dense atmosphere, Earth's setting shadow is bounded above by a pinkish glow or anti-twilight arch. Known as the Belt of Venus, the arch's lovely color is due to backscattering of reddened light from the opposite horizon's rising Sun. Of course, the setting Moon's light is reddened by the long sight-line through the atmosphere. But on that date the full Moon could be called a seasonal Blue Moon, the third full Moon in a season with four full Moons. And even though the full Moon is always impressive near the horizon, August's full Moon is considered by some the first of four consecutive full Supermoons in 2024.
#APOD #Astrogeek #Astrochemistry #Astrophoto #BlackHoles
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240824.html

2024-08-23 04:09:42

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
23 August 2024
**Supernova Remnant CTA 1**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/CTA1_15_75_Lelu2048.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Thomas Lelu
There is a quiet pulsar at the heart of CTA 1. The supernova remnant was discovered as a source of emission at radio wavelengths by astronomers in 1960 and since identified as the result of the death explosion of a massive star. But no radio pulses were detected from the expected pulsar, the rotating neutron star remnant of the massive star's collapsed core. Seen about 10,000 years after the initial supernova explosion, the interstellar debris cloud is faint at optical wavelengths. CTA 1's visible wavelength emission from still expanding shock fronts is revealed in this deep telescopic image, a frame that spans about 2 degrees across a starfield in the northern constellation of Cepheus. While no pulsar has since been found at radio wavelengths, in 2008 the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected pulsed emission from CTA 1, identifying the supernova remnant's rotating neutron star. The source has been recognized as the first in a growing class of pulsars that are quiet at radio wavelengths but pulse in high-energy gamma-rays.
#APOD #Astrophysics #SpaceMission #SpaceStation #Astronauts
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240823.html

2024-08-22 04:08:31

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
22 August 2024
**The Dark Tower in Scorpius**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/DarkTowerCDK700-Selby.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby
In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnological constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower. In fact, monstrous clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. A cometary globule, the swept-back cloud is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper right corner of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away. Growing Gallery: Moon Eclipses Saturn in August 2024
#APOD #CosmosJourney #Astrobiology #Cosmology #Stars
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240822.html

2024-08-20 04:06:23

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
20 August 2024
**Supermoon Beyond the Temple of Poseidon**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/SupermoonPoseidon_Maragos_1601.jpg
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A supermoon occurred yesterday. And tonight's moon should also look impressive. Supermoons appear slightly larger and brighter than most full moons because they reach their full phase when slightly nearer to the Earth -- closer than 90 percent of all full moons. This supermoon was also a blue moon given the definition that it is the third of four full moons occurring during a single season. Blue moons are not usually blue, and a different definition holds that a blue moon is the second full moon that occurs during a single month. The featured image captured the blue supermoon right near its peak size yesterday as it was rising beyond the Temple of Poseidon in Greece. This supermoon is particularly unusual in that it is the first of four successive supermoons, the next three occurring in September, October, and November.
#APOD #Astrophoto #Astrozone #SpaceMissions #Astroinformatics
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240820.html

2024-08-19 04:06:24

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
19 August 2024
**IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/Cocoon_Ventura_2047.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Luis Romero Ventura
Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide. Soaring high in northern summer night skies, it's located some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars, and dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star found near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. A 48-hour long integration resulted in this exceptionally deep color view tracing tantalizing features within and surrounding the dusty stellar nursery.
#APOD #Exoplanets #Astrophysics #PlanetaryScience #SpaceResearch
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240819.html

2024-08-18 04:06:19

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
18 August 2024
**A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/PBL1RBj-P1g?rel=0
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One of the most spectacular solar sights is an erupting prominence. In 2011, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressively large prominence erupting from the surface. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the featured time lapse video covering 90 minutes, where a new frame was taken every 24 seconds. The scale of the prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing curtain of hot gas. A solar prominence is channeled and sometimes held above the Sun's surface by the Sun's magnetic field. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is a continuing topic of research. Our Sun is again near solar maximum and so very active, featuring numerous erupting prominences and CMEs, one of which resulted in picturesque auroras just over the past week.
#APOD #Astrocosmos #Astrophysics #Astroengineer #Astrobiology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240818.html

2024-08-17 04:06:04

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
17 August 2024
**Sky Full of Arcs**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/RocketGannaway.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Rory Gannaway
On August 11 a Rocket Lab Electron rocket launched from a rotating planet. With a small satellite on board its mission was dubbed A Sky Full of SARs (Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites), departing for low Earth orbit from Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand's north island. The fiery trace of the Electron's graceful launch arc is toward the east in this southern sea and skyscape, a composite of 50 consecutive frames taken over 2.5 hours. Fixed to a tripod, the camera was pointing directly at the South Celestial Pole, the extension of planet Earth's axis of rotation in to space. But no bright star marks that location in the southern hemisphere's night sky. Still, the South Celestial Pole is easy to spot. It lies at the center of the concentric star trail arcs that fill the skyward field of view. Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
#APOD #Astrozone #Astrofans #Meteorology #Astrophotography
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240817.html

2024-08-15 04:09:48

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
15 August 2024
**Late Night Vallentuna**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/PerseidM45Aurora_Heden.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Clear Skies
Bright Mars and even brighter Jupiter are in close conjunction just above the pine trees in this post-midnight skyscape from Vallentuna, Sweden. Taken on August 12 during a geomagnetic storm, the snapshot records the glow of aurora borealis or northern lights, beaming from the left side of the frame. Of course on that date Perseid meteors rained through planet Earth's skies, grains of dust from the shower's parent, periodic comet Swift-Tuttle. The meteor streak at the upper right is a Perseid plowing through the atmosphere at about 60 kilometers per second. Also well-known in in Earth's night sky, the bright Pleides star cluster shines below the Perseid meteor streak. In Greek myth, the Pleiades were seven daughters of the astronomical titan Atlas and sea-nymph Pleione. The Pleiades and their parents' names are given to the cluster's nine brightest stars. Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
#APOD #AstronomyClub #Astrobiology #Astrophotography #SpaceTech
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240815.html

2024-08-14 04:09:37

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
14 August 2024
**Meteors and Aurora over Germany**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/AuroraPerseids_Anders_4855.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Chantal Anders
This was an unusual night. For one thing, the night sky of August 11 and 12, earlier this week, occurred near the peak of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. Therefore, meteors streaked across the dark night as small bits cast off from Comet Swift-Tuttle came crashing into the Earth's atmosphere. Even more unusually, for central Germany at least, the night sky glowed purple. The red-blue hue was due to aurora caused by an explosion of particles from the Sun a few days before. This auroral storm was so intense that it was seen as far south as Texas and Italy, in Earth's northern hemisphere. The featured image composite was built from 7 exposures taken over 26 minutes from Ense, Germany. The Perseids occur predictably every August, but auroras visible this far south are more unusual and less predictable. Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
#APOD #Planets #Stars #Astrotheory #Astrochemistry
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240814.html

2024-08-13 04:09:31

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
13 August 2024
**Giant Jet from the International Space Station**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/JetIss_Schmauss_1464.jpg
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What's that on the horizon? When circling the Earth on the International Space Station early last month, astronaut Matthew Dominick saw an unusual type of lightning just beyond the Earth's edge: a gigantic jet. The powerful jet appears on the left of the featured image in red and blue. Giant jet lightning has only been known about for the past 23 years. The atmospheric jets are associated with thunderstorms and extend upwards towards Earth's ionosphere. The lower part of the frame shows the Earth at night, with Earth's thin atmosphere tinted green from airglow. City lights are visible, sometimes resolved, but usually creating diffuse white glows in intervening clouds. The top of the frame reveals distant stars in the dark night sky. The nature of gigantic jets and their possible association with other types of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such as blue jets and red sprites remains an active topic of research. Growing Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
#APOD #AstronomyLovers #Meteorology #Cosmos #CosmosJourney
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240813.html

2024-08-11 04:09:34

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
11 August 2024
**Animation: Perseid Meteor Shower**
https://www.meteorshowers.org/view/perseids
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Where do Perseid meteors come from? Mostly small bits of stony grit, Perseid meteoroids were once expelled from Comet Swift-Tuttle and continue to follow this comet's orbit as they slowly disperse. The featured animation depicts the entire meteoroid stream as it orbits our Sun. When the Earth nears this stream, as it does every year, the Perseid Meteor Shower occurs. Highlighted as bright in the animation, comet debris this size is usually so dim it is practically undetectable. Only a small fraction of this debris will enter the Earth's atmosphere, heat up and disintegrate brightly. Tonight and the next few nights promise some of the better skies to view the Perseid shower as well as other active showers because the first quarter moon will be absent from the sky from midnight onward. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #SpaceInnovation #Astroengineer #Space #RocketScience
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240811.html

2024-08-10 04:09:32

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
10 August 2024
**The Light, Dark, and Dusty Trifid**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/M20OriginalLRGBHaO3S2_1500x1100.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Edelmaier and Gabriele Gegenbauer
Messier 20, popularly known as the Trifid Nebula, lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. The reddish emission region, roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes, is what lends the Trifid its popular name. The cosmic cloud complex is over 40 light-years across and would cover the area of a full moon on planet Earth's sky. But the Trifid Nebula is too faint to be seen by the unaided eye. Over 75 hours of image data captured under dark night skies was used to create this stunning telescopic view. Watch: The Perseid Meteor Shower
#APOD #SpaceIndustry #Cosmology #SpaceDiscovery #SpaceWeather
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240810.html

2024-08-08 04:08:54

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
08 August 2024
**Periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/Rhemann799_109P_24_11_92.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Gerald Rhemann
A Halley-type comet with an orbital period of about 133 years, Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle is recognized as the parent of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. The comet's last visit to the inner Solar System was in 1992. Then, it did not become easily visible to the naked eye, but it did become bright enough to see from most locations with binoculars and small telescopes. This stunning color image of Swift-Tuttle's greenish coma, long ion tail and dust tail was recorded using film on November 24, 1992. That was about 16 days after the large periodic comet's closest approach to Earth. Comet Swift-Tuttle is expected to next make an impressive appearance in night skies in 2126. Meanwhile, dusty cometary debris left along the orbit of Swift-Tuttle will continue to be swept up creating planet Earth's best-known July and August meteor shower.
#APOD #Astrospace #Astrobiology #MilkyWay #Meteorology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240808.html

2024-07-30 04:06:22

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
30 July 2024
**Arp 142: Interacting Galaxies from Webb**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/Arp142_Webb_1487.jpg
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To some, it looks like a penguin. But to people who study the universe, it is an interesting example of two big galaxies interacting. Just a few hundred million years ago, the upper NGC 2936 was likely a normal spiral galaxy: spinning, creating stars, and minding its own business. Then it got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, below, and took a dive. Together known as Arp 142, they are featured in this new Webb infrared image, while a visible light Hubble image appears in comparison. NGC 2936 is not only being deflected, but distorted, by this close gravitational interaction. When massive galaxies pass near each other, gas is typically condensed from which new stars form. A young group of stars appears as the nose of the penguin toward the right of the upper galaxy, while in the center of the spiral, bright stars together appear as an eye. Before a billion years, the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy. Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
#APOD #Galaxy #Stars #LunarExploration #NASA
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240730.html

2024-07-29 04:06:12

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
29 July 2024
**Milky Way over Uluru**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/UluruMilkyWay_Inwood_1350.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Max Inwood
What's happening above Uluru? A United Nations World Heritage Site, Uluru is an extraordinary 350-meter high mountain in central Australia that rises sharply from nearly flat surroundings. Composed of sandstone, Uluru has slowly formed over the past 300 million years as softer rock eroded away. The Uluru region has been a home to humans for over 22,000 years. Recorded last month, the starry sky above Uluru includes the central band of our Milky Way galaxy, complete with complex dark filaments of dust, bright red emission nebulas, and billions of stars.
#APOD #Astroenthusiast #Astrozone #BlackHoles #Cosmology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240729.html

2024-07-28 04:06:10

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
28 July 2024
**Sun Dance**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/hQFEHH5E69s?rel=0
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Sometimes, the surface of our Sun seems to dance. In the middle of 2012, for example, NASA's Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamic Observatory spacecraft imaged an impressive prominence that seemed to perform a running dive roll like an acrobatic dancer. The dramatic explosion was captured in ultraviolet light in the featured time-lapse video covering about three hours. A looping magnetic field directed the flow of hot plasma on the Sun. The scale of the dancing prominence is huge -- the entire Earth would easily fit under the flowing arch of hot gas. A quiescent prominence typically lasts about a month and may erupt in a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), expelling hot gas into the Solar System. The energy mechanism that creates a solar prominence is still a topic of research. Like in 2012, this year the Sun's surface is again quite active and features many filaments and prominences.
#APOD #Galaxy #OuterSpace #SpaceTech #SpaceTravel
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240728.html

2024-07-27 04:06:09

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
27 July 2024
**Saturn at the Moon's Edge**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/MoonSaturnOcc_Xu20240725.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Chengcheng Xu
Saturn now rises before midnight in planet Earth's sky. On July 24, the naked-eye planet was in close conjunction, close on the sky, to a waning gibbous Moon. But from some locations on planet Earth the ringed gas giant was occulted, disappearing behind the Moon for about an hour from skies over parts of Asia and Africa. Because the Moon and bright planets wander through the sky near the ecliptic plane, such occultation events are not uncommon, but they can be dramatic. In this telescopic view from Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, Saturn is caught moments before its disappearance behind the lunar disk. The snapshot gives the illusion that Saturn hangs just above Glushko crater, a 43 kilometer diameter, young, ray crater near the Moon's western edge. Of course, the Moon is 400 thousand kilometers away, compared to Saturn's distance of 1.4 billion kilometers.
#APOD #Astrogeology #Galaxy #SpaceResearch #Astrodata
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240727.html

2024-07-26 04:05:58

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
26 July 2024
**Facing NGC 6946**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/NGC6946_verB.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Roberto Marinoni
From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC 6946 face-on. The big, beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 20 million light-years away, behind a veil of foreground dust and stars in the high and far-off constellation Cepheus. In this sharp telescopic portrait, from the core outward the galaxy's colors change from the yellowish light of old stars in the center to young blue star clusters and reddish star forming regions along the loose, fragmented spiral arms. NGC 6946 is also bright in infrared light and rich in gas and dust, exhibiting a high star birth and death rate. In fact, since the early 20th century ten confirmed supernovae, the death explosions of massive stars, were discovered in NGC 6946. Nearly 40,000 light-years across, NGC 6946 is also known as the Fireworks Galaxy.
#APOD #PlanetExploration #NASAInspires #Exploration #SpaceResearch
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240726.html

2024-07-25 04:05:59

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 July 2024
**NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/NGC7023_LRGB_fin_sig.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Shepherd
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 #SpaceResearch #SpaceExploration #Astroeducation #CosmosJourney
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240725.html

2024-07-24 04:09:51

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
24 July 2024
**Exaggerated Moon**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/ExaggeratedMoon_Ibatulin_2610.jpg
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Our Moon doesn't really have craters this big. Earth's Moon, Luna, also doesn't naturally show this spikey texture, and its colors are more subtle. But this digital creation is based on reality. The featured image is a digital composite of a good Moon image and surface height data taken from NASA's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) mission -- and then exaggerated for educational understanding. The digital enhancements, for example, accentuate lunar highlands and show more clearly craters that illustrate the tremendous bombardment our Moon has been through during its 4.6-billion-year history. The dark areas, called maria, have fewer craters and were once seas of molten lava. Additionally, the image colors, although based on the moon's real composition, are changed and exaggerated. Here, a blue hue indicates a region that is iron rich, while orange indicates a slight excess of aluminum. Although the Moon has shown the same side to the Earth for billions of years, modern technology is allowing humanity to learn much more about it -- and how it affects the Earth.
#APOD #MilkyWay #Astrophysics #Science #Meteorology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240724.html

2024-07-22 04:06:41

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
22 July 2024
**Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/VeeChamaeleon_Lee_6098.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Chang Lee
Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an angular elegance. Such is the case toward the far-south constellation of Chamaeleon. Normally too faint to see, dark dust is best known for blocking visible light from stars and galaxies behind it. In this 36.6-hour exposure, however, the dust is seen mostly in light of its own, with its strong red and near-infrared colors creating a brown hue. Contrastingly blue, the bright star Beta Chamaeleontis is visible on the upper right, with the dust that surrounds it preferentially reflecting blue light from its primarily blue-white color. All of the pictured stars and dust occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy with one notable exception: the white spot just below Beta Chamaeleontis is the galaxy IC 3104 which lies far in the distance. Interstellar dust is mostly created in the cool atmospheres of giant stars and dispersed into space by stellar light, stellar winds, and stellar explosions such as supernovas.
#APOD #Universe #StarCluster #Stellar #AstronomyFacts
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240722.html

2024-07-19 04:06:35

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
19 July 2024
**Anticrepuscular Rays at the Planet Festival**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/2024-07-11Pavel_2048p.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Pavel Gabzdyl
For some, these subtle bands of light and shadow stretched across the sky as the Sun set on July 11. Known as anticrepuscular rays, the bands are formed as a large cloud bank near the western horizon cast long shadows through the atmosphere at sunset. Due to the camera's perspective, the bands of light and shadow seem to converge toward the eastern (opposite) horizon at a point seen just above a 14th century hilltop castle near Brno, Czech Republic. In the foreground, denizens of planet Earth are enjoying the region's annual Planet Festival in the park below the Brno Observatory and Planetarium. And while crepuscular and anticrepuscular rays are a relatively common atmospheric phenomenon, this festival's 10 meter diameter inflatable spheres representing bodies of the Solar System are less often seen on planet Earth.
#APOD #Astrozone #SpaceResearch #AstronautLife #NASAInspires
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240719.html

2024-07-18 04:05:07

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
18 July 2024
**Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/M24-HaLRGB-RC51_2048.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Freeburn
Unlike most entries in Charles Messier's famous catalog of deep sky objects, M24 is not a bright galaxy, star cluster, or nebula. It's a gap in nearby, obscuring interstellar dust clouds that allows a view of the distant stars in the Sagittarius spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy. Direct your gaze through this gap with binoculars or small telescope and you are looking through a window over 300 light-years wide at stars some 10,000 light-years or more from Earth. Sometimes called the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, M24's luminous stars are left of center in this gorgeous starscape. Covering over 6 degrees or the width of 12 full moons in the constellation Sagittarius, the telescopic field of view includes dark markings B92 and B93 near the center of M24, along with other clouds of dust and glowing nebulae toward the center of the Milky Way.
#APOD #Astrocosmos #Astroinformatics #Astroengineer #Planetarium
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240718.html

2024-07-17 04:10:02

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
17 July 2024
**Villarrica Volcano Against the Sky**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/aX4ozspTPQY?rel=0
Image Credit & Copyright:
Gabriel Muñoz;
Text: Natalia Lewandowska
(SUNY Oswego)
When Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, swings his blacksmith's hammer, the sky is lit on fire. A recent eruption of Chile's Villarrica volcano shows the delicate interplay between this fire -- actually glowing steam and ash from melted rock -- and the light from distant stars in our Milky Way galaxy and the Magellanic Clouds galaxies. In the featured timelapse video, the Earth rotates under the stars as Villarrica erupts. With about 1350 volcanoes, our planet Earth rivals Jupiter's moon Io as the most geologically active place in the Solar System. While both have magnificent beauty, the reasons for the existence of volcanoes on both worlds are different. Earth's volcanoes typically occur between slowly shifting outer shell plates, while Io's volcanoes are caused by gravitational flexing resulting from Jupiter's tidal gravitational pull.
#APOD #Meteorology #Astrozone #Astroengineering #Astrogeek
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240717.html

2024-07-15 04:09:48

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
15 July 2024
**The Tadpole Galaxy from Hubble**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/TadpoleGalaxy_HubblePathak_3751.jpg
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Why does this galaxy have such a long tail? In this stunning vista, based on image data from the Hubble Legacy Archive, distant galaxies form a dramatic backdrop for disrupted spiral galaxy Arp 188, the Tadpole Galaxy. The cosmic tadpole is a mere 420 million light-years distant toward the northern constellation of the Dragon (Draco). Its eye-catching tail is about 280 thousand light-years long and features massive, bright blue star clusters. One story goes that a more compact intruder galaxy crossed in front of Arp 188 - from right to left in this view - and was slung around behind the Tadpole by their gravitational attraction. During the close encounter, tidal forces drew out the spiral galaxy's stars, gas, and dust forming the spectacular tail. The intruder galaxy itself, estimated to lie about 300 thousand light-years behind the Tadpole, can be seen through foreground spiral arms at the upper right. Following its terrestrial namesake, the Tadpole Galaxy will likely lose its tail as it grows older, the tail's star clusters forming smaller satellites of the large spiral galaxy. APOD in world languages: Arabic (IG), Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese (Beijing), Chinese (Taiwan), Czech, Dutch, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Taiwanese, Turkish, and Ukrainian
#APOD #Astrozone #PlanetExploration #Astronauts #AstronomyFacts
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240715.html

2024-07-14 04:09:47

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
14 July 2024
**Meteor Misses Galaxy**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/M33Meteor_Chokshi_2000.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Aman Chokshi
The galaxy was never in danger. For one thing, the Triangulum galaxy (M33), pictured, is much bigger than the tiny grain of rock at the head of the meteor. For another, the galaxy is much farther away -- in this instance 3 million light years as opposed to only about 0.0003 light seconds. Even so, the meteor's path took it angularly below the galaxy. Also the wind high in Earth's atmosphere blew the meteor's glowing evaporative molecule train away from the galaxy, in angular projection. Still, the astrophotographer was quite lucky to capture both a meteor and a galaxy in a single exposure -- which was subsequently added to two other images of M33 to bring up the spiral galaxy's colors. At the end, the meteor was gone in a second, but the galaxy will last billions of years. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #Planetarium #BlackHoleDiscovery #Astrogeek #SpaceTechnology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240714.html

2024-07-13 04:09:45

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
13 July 2024
**Solar System Family Portrait**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/ssportrait_vg1_big.jpg
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In 1990, cruising four billion miles from the Sun, the Voyager 1 spacecraft looked back to make this first ever Solar System family portrait. The complete portrait is a 60 frame mosaic made from a vantage point 32 degrees above the ecliptic plane. In it, Voyager's wide-angle camera frames sweep through the inner Solar System at the left, linking up with ice giant Neptune, the Solar System's outermost planet, at the far right. Positions for Venus, Earth, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are indicated by letters, while the Sun is the bright spot near the center of the circle of frames. The inset frames for each of the planets are from Voyager's narrow-field camera. Unseen in the portrait are Mercury, too close to the Sun to be detected, and Mars, unfortunately hidden by sunlight scattered in the camera's optical system. Closer to the Sun than Neptune at the time, small, faint Pluto's position was not covered. In 2024 Voyager 1, NASA’s longest-running and most-distant spacecraft, is some 15 billion miles away, operating in interstellar space.
#APOD #SpaceExploration #SpaceDiscovery #Astrospace #AstronomyFacts
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240713.html

2024-07-03 04:07:42

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
03 July 2024
**M83: Star Streams and a Thousand Rubies**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/DeepM83ThousandRubyGalaxy.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Sidonio
Big, bright, and beautiful, spiral galaxy M83 lies a mere twelve million light-years away, near the southeastern tip of the very long constellation Hydra. About 40,000 light-years across, M83 is known as the Southern Pinwheel for its pronounced spiral arms. But the wealth of reddish star forming regions found near the edges of the arms' thick dust lanes, also suggest another popular moniker for M83, the Thousand-Ruby Galaxy. This new deep telescopic digital image also records the bright galaxy's faint, extended halo. Arcing toward the bottom of the cosmic frame lies a stellar tidal stream, debris drawn from massive M83 by the gravitational disruption of a smaller, merging satellite galaxy. Astronomers David Malin and Brian Hadley found the elusive star stream in the mid 1990s by enhancing photographic plates.
#APOD #SpaceExploration #SpaceFacts #RocketScience #SpaceAdventures
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240703.html

2024-07-02 04:07:17

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
02 July 2024
**NGC 602: Oyster Star Cluster**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/Ngc602_ChandraHubbleSpitzer_3600.jpg
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The clouds may look like an oyster, and the stars like pearls, but look beyond. Near the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy some 200 thousand light-years distant, lies this 5 million year old star cluster NGC 602. Surrounded by its birth shell of gas and dust, star cluster NGC 602 is featured in this stunning Hubble image, augmented in a rollover by images in the X-ray by the Chandra Observatory and in the infrared by Spitzer Telescope. Fantastic ridges and swept back gas strongly suggest that energetic radiation and shock waves from NGC 602's massive young stars have eroded the dusty material and triggered a progression of star formation moving away from the star cluster's center. At the estimated distance of the Small Magellanic Cloud, the featured picture spans about 200 light-years, but a tantalizing assortment of background galaxies are also visible in this sharp view. The background galaxies are hundreds of millions of light-years -- or more -- beyond NGC 602.
#APOD #Astrophoto #Astronauts #Cosmology #OuterSpace
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240702.html

2024-07-01 04:08:39

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
01 July 2024
**Time Spiral**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/TimeSpiral_Budassi_2500.jpg
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What's happened since the universe started? The time spiral shown here features a few notable highlights. At the spiral's center is the Big Bang, the place where time, as we know it, began about 13.8 billion years ago. Within a few billion years atoms formed, then stars formed from atoms, galaxies formed from stars and gas, our Sun formed, soon followed by our Earth, about 4.6 billion years ago. Life on Earth begins about 3.8 billion years ago, followed by cells, then photosynthesis within a billion years. About 1.7 billion years ago, multicellular life on Earth began to flourish. Fish began to swim about 500 million years ago, and mammals because walking on land about 200 million years ago. Humans first appeared only about 6 million years ago, and made the first cities only about 10,000 years ago. The time spiral illustrated stops there, but human spaceflight might be added, which started only 75 years ago, and useful artificial intelligence began to take hold within only the past few years. Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
#APOD #SpaceStation #SpaceFacts #Astroinformatics #SpaceExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240701.html

2024-06-30 04:05:38

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
30 June 2024
**Earthrise: A Video Reconstruction**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/1R5QqhPq1Ik?rel=0
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About 12 seconds into this video, something unusual happens. The Earth begins to rise. Never seen by humans before, the rise of the Earth over the limb of the Moon occurred about 55.5 years ago and surprised and amazed the crew of Apollo 8. The crew immediately scrambled to take still images of the stunning vista caused by Apollo 8's orbit around the Moon. The featured video is a modern reconstruction of the event as it would have looked were it recorded with a modern movie camera. The colorful orb of our Earth stood out as a familiar icon rising above a distant and unfamiliar moonscape, the whole scene the conceptual reverse of a more familiar moonrise as seen from Earth. To many, the scene also spoke about the unity of humanity: that big blue marble -- that's us -- we all live there. The two-minute video is not time-lapse -- this is the real speed of the Earth rising through the windows of Apollo 8. Seven months and three missions later, Apollo 11 astronauts would not only circle Earth's moon, but land on it. NASA Administrator Remembers Earthrise Photographer William Anders
#APOD #Astrogeology #SpaceResearch #Meteorology #NASA
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240630.html

2024-06-29 04:06:57

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
29 June 2024
**A Solstice Moon**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/SolsMoon2024.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel
Rising opposite the setting Sun, June's Full Moon occurred within about 28 hours of the solstice. The Moon stays close to the Sun's path along the ecliptic plane and so while the solstice Sun climbed high in daytime skies, June's Full Moon remained low that night as seen from northern latitudes. In fact, the Full Moon hugs the horizon in this June 21 rooftop night sky view from Bursa, Turkey, constructed from exposures made every 10 minutes between moonrise and moonset. In 2024 the Moon also reached a major lunar standstill, an extreme in the monthly north-south range of moonrise and moonset caused by the precession of the Moon's orbit over an 18.6 year cycle. As a result, this June solstice Full Moon was at its southernmost moonrise and moonset along the horizon.
#APOD #PlanetaryExploration #Astroinformatics #Astronauts #SpaceResearch
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240629.html

2024-06-28 04:06:55

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
28 June 2024
**Comet 13P/Olbers**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/13P_Olbers_2024_06_24_215434PDT_DEBartlett.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett
Not a paradox, Comet 13P/Olbers is returning to the inner Solar System after 68 years. The periodic, Halley-type comet will reach its next perihelion or closest approach to the Sun on June 30 and has become a target for binocular viewing low in planet Earth's northern hemisphere night skies. But this sharp telescopic image of 13P is composed of stacked exposures made on the night of June 25. It easily reveals shifting details in the bright comet's torn and tattered ion tail buffeted by the wind from an active Sun, along with a broad, fanned-out dust tail and slightly greenish coma. The frame spans over two degrees across a background of faint stars toward the constellation Lynx.
#APOD #SpaceWeather #Exploration #Astroknowledge #Astroengineer
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240628.html

2024-06-27 04:06:47

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
27 June 2024
**Protostellar Outflows in Serpens**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/STScI-SerpNorth.png
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Jets of material blasting from newborn stars, are captured in this James Webb Space Telescope close-up of the Serpens Nebula. The powerful protostellar outflows are bipolar, twin jets spewing in opposite directions. Their directions are perpendicular to accretion disks formed around the spinning, collapsing stellar infants. In the NIRcam image, the reddish color represents emission from molecular hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced as the jets collide with the surrounding gas and dust. The sharp image shows for the first time that individual outflows detected in the Serpens Nebula are generally aligned along the same direction. That result was expected, but has only now come into clear view with Webb's detailed exploration of the active young star-forming region. Brighter foreground stars exhibit Webb's characteristic diffraction spikes. At the Serpens Nebula's estimated distance of 1,300 light-years, this cosmic close-up frame is about 1 light-year across.
#APOD #Stars #Space #CosmosJourney #Astrophoto
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240627.html

2024-06-26 04:06:34

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
26 June 2024
**Timelapse: Aurora, SAR, and the Milky Way**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/fisAZYNwDgk?rel=0
Image Credit & Copyright:
Jeff Dai
(TWAN);
Music
(License):
Suite bergamasque by
Claude Debussy
What's happening in the sky this unusual night? Most striking in the featured 4.5-hour 360-degree panoramic video, perhaps, is the pink and purple aurora. That's because this night, encompassing May 11, was famous for its auroral skies around the world. As the night progresses, auroral bands shimmer, the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy rises, and stars shift as the Earth rotates beneath them. Captured here simultaneously is a rare red band running above the aurora: a SAR arc, seen to change only slightly. The flashing below the horizon is caused by passing cars, while the moving spots in the sky are satellites and airplanes. The featured video was captured from Xinjiang, China with four separate cameras.
#APOD #Astrofans #SpaceExploration #SpaceObservatory #Astrophotography
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240626.html

2024-06-25 04:06:33

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 June 2024
**The Dark Doodad Nebula**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/Doodad_PughSung_9193.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Martin Pugh &
Rocco Sung
What is that strange brown ribbon on the sky? When observing the star cluster NGC 4372, observers frequently take note of an unusual dark streak nearby running about three degrees in length. The streak, actually a long molecular cloud, has become known as the Dark Doodad Nebula. (Doodad is slang for a thingy or a whatchamacallit.) Pictured here, the Dark Doodad Nebula sweeps across the center of a rich and colorful starfield. Its dark color comes from a high concentration of interstellar dust that preferentially scatters visible light. The globular star cluster NGC 4372 is visible as the fuzzy white spot on the far left, while the bright blue star gamma Muscae is seen to the cluster's upper right. The Dark Doodad Nebula can be found with strong binoculars toward the southern constellation of the Fly (Musca).
#APOD #Stars #Exoplanets #SpaceObservatory #RocketScience
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240625.html

2024-06-24 04:06:30

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
24 June 2024
**JADES-GS-z14-0: A New Farthest Object**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/MostDistantGalaxy_Webb_960.jpg
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What if we could see back to the beginning of the universe? We could see galaxies forming. But what did galaxies look like back then? These questions took a step forward recently with the release of the analysis of a James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) image that included the most distant object yet discovered. Most galaxies formed at about 3 billion years after the Big Bang, but some formed earlier. Pictured in the inset box is JADES-GS-z14-0, a faint smudge of a galaxy that formed only 300 million years after the universe started. In technical terms, this galaxy lies at the record redshift of z=14.32, and so existed when the universe was only one fiftieth of the its present age. Practically all of the objects in the featured photograph are galaxies.
#APOD #SpaceObservatory #AstronomyLovers #Astrophoto #SpaceTech
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240624.html

2024-06-23 04:06:31

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
23 June 2024
**The Colors of Saturn from Cassini**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/SaturnColors_CassiniSchmidt_960.jpg
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What creates Saturn's colors? The featured picture of Saturn only slightly exaggerates what a human would see if hovering close to the giant ringed world. The image was taken in 2005 by the robot Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Here Saturn's majestic rings appear directly only as a curved line, appearing brown, in part from its infrared glow. The rings best show their complex structure in the dark shadows they create across the upper part of the planet. The northern hemisphere of Saturn can appear partly blue for the same reason that Earth's skies can appear blue -- molecules in the cloudless portions of both planet's atmospheres are better at scattering blue light than red. When looking deep into Saturn's clouds, however, the natural gold hue of Saturn's clouds becomes dominant. It is not known why southern Saturn does not show the same blue hue -- one hypothesis holds that clouds are higher there. It is also not known why some of Saturn's clouds are colored gold.
#APOD #Astronauts #Astroenthusiast #Astrophoto #PlanetExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240623.html

2024-06-20 04:05:47

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
20 June 2024
**Sandy and the Moon Halo**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/MoonHalo_pace.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella Giulia Pace
Last April's Full Moon shines through high clouds near the horizon, casting shadows in this garden-at-night skyscape. Along with canine sentinel Sandy watching the garden gate, the wide-angle snapshot also captured the bright Moon's 22 degree ice halo. But June's bright Full Moon will cast shadows too. This month, the Moon's exact full phase occurs at 01:08 UTC June 22. That's a mere 28 hours or so after today's June solstice (at 20:51 UTC June 20), the moment when the Sun reaches its maximum northern declination. Known to some as a Strawberry Moon, June's Full Moon is at its southernmost declination, and of course will create its own 22 degree halos in hazy night skies.
#APOD #BlackHoles #SpaceFacts #SpaceExploration #AstronautLife
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240620.html

2024-06-15 04:05:52

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
15 June 2024
**Prominences and Filaments on the Active Sun**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/Halpha_sondergaard.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: solar cycle 25
This colorized and sharpened image of the Sun is composed of frames recording emission from hydrogen atoms in the solar chromosphere on May 15. Approaching the maximum of solar cycle 25, a multitude of active regions and twisting, snake-like solar filaments are seen to sprawl across the surface of the active Sun. Suspend in the active regions' strong magnetic fields, the filaments of plasma lofted above the Sun's edge appear as bright solar prominences. The large prominences seen near 4 o'clock, and just before 9 o'clock around the solar limb are post flare loops from two powerful X-class solar flares that both occurred on that day. In fact, the 4 o'clock prominence is associated with the monster active region AR 3664 just rotating off the Sun's edge.
#APOD #GalacticAdventures #Astrodata #SpaceObservatory #AstronomyPhotography
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240615.html

2024-06-12 04:10:01

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
12 June 2024
**Aurora over Karkonosze Mountains**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/AuroraKarkonosze_Koszela_1409.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Daniel Koszela
It was the first time ever. At least, the first time this photographer had ever seen aurora from his home mountains. And what a spectacular aurora it was. The Karkonosze Mountains in Poland are usually too far south to see any auroras. But on the amazing night of May 10 - 11, purple and green colors lit up much of the night sky, a surprising spectacle that also appeared over many mid-latitude locations around the Earth. The featured image is a composite of six vertical exposures taken during the auroral peak. The futuristic buildings on the right are part of a meteorological observatory located on the highest peak of the Karkonosze Mountains. The purple color is primarily due to Sun-triggered, high-energy electrons impacting nitrogen molecules in Earth's atmosphere. Our Sun is reaching its maximum surface activity over the next two years, and although many more auroras are predicted, most will occur over regions closer to the Earth's poles.
#APOD #Astroknowledge #Astrotheory #StarFormation #SpaceMission
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240612.html

2024-06-06 04:06:59

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
06 June 2024
**NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/278_lorand_fenyes_ngc4565.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Lóránd Fényes
Magnificent spiral galaxy NGC 4565 is viewed edge-on from planet Earth. Also known as the Needle Galaxy for its narrow profile, bright NGC 4565 is a stop on many telescopic tours of the northern sky, in the faint but well-groomed constellation Coma Berenices. This sharp, colorful image reveals the galaxy's boxy, bulging central core cut by obscuring dust lanes that lace NGC 4565's thin galactic plane. NGC 4565 itself lies about 40 million light-years distant and spans some 100,000 light-years. Easily spotted with small telescopes, sky enthusiasts consider NGC 4565 to be a prominent celestial masterpiece Messier missed.
#APOD #OuterSpace #PlanetExploration #Astroeducation #Astrogeology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240606.html

2024-06-03 04:07:14

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
03 June 2024
**NGC 2403 in Camelopardalis**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/NGC2403-LRGB+Ha+Oiii-v25-f.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: (Team F.A.C.T.)
Magnificent island universe NGC 2403 stands within the boundaries of the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis. Some 10 million light-years distant and about 50,000 light-years across, the spiral galaxy also seems to have more than its fair share of giant star forming HII regions, marked by the telltale reddish glow of atomic hydrogen gas. The giant HII regions are energized by clusters of hot, massive stars that explode as bright supernovae at the end of their short and furious lives. A member of the M81 group of galaxies, NGC 2403 closely resembles a galaxy in our own local galaxy group with an abundance of star forming regions, M33, the Triangulum Galaxy. Spiky in appearance, bright stars in this portrait of NGC 2403 are in the foreground, within our own Milky Way. Also in the foreground of the deep, wide-field, telescopic image are the Milky Way's dim and dusty interstellar clouds also known as galactic cirrus or integrated flux nebulae. But faint features that seem to extend from NGC 2403 itself are likely tidal stellar streams drawn out by gravitational interactions with neighboring galaxies.
#APOD #Universe #SpaceDiscovery #Astronauts #AstronautLife
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240603.html

2024-05-28 04:08:07

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
28 May 2024
**Solar X Flare as Famous Active Region Returns**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/yt7uwWzSTw0?rel=0
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It's back. The famous active region on the Sun that created auroras visible around the Earth earlier this month has survived its rotation around the far side of the Sun -- and returned. Yesterday, as it was beginning to reappear on the Earth-facing side, the region formerly labeled AR 3664 threw another major solar flare, again in the highest-energy X-class range. The featured video shows the emerging active region on the lower left, as it was captured by NASA's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory yesterday in ultraviolet light. The video is a time-lapse of the entire Sun rotating over 24 hours. Watch the lower-left region carefully at about the 2-second mark to see the powerful flare burst out. The energetic particles from that flare and associated CME are not expected to directly impact the Earth and trigger impressive auroras, but scientists will keep a close watch on this unusually active region over the next two weeks, as it faces the Earth, to see what develops.
#APOD #LunarMission #Galaxy #Astrotheory #SpaceTech
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240528.html

2024-05-26 04:08:28

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
26 May 2024
**A Solar Filament Erupts**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/filament_sdo_1080.jpg
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What's happened to our Sun? Nothing very unusual -- it just threw a filament. Toward the middle of 2012, a long standing solar filament suddenly erupted into space, producing an energetic coronal mass ejection (CME). The filament had been held up for days by the Sun's ever changing magnetic field and the timing of the eruption was unexpected. Watched closely by the Sun-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory, the resulting explosion shot electrons and ions into the Solar System, some of which arrived at Earth three days later and impacted Earth's magnetosphere, causing visible auroras. Loops of plasma surrounding the active region can be seen above the erupting filament in the featured ultraviolet image. Our Sun is nearing the most active time in its 11-year cycle, creating many coronal holes that allow for the ejection of charged particles into space. As before, these charged particles can create auroras. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #Galactic #SpaceTech #Planetarium #SpaceTechnology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240526.html

2024-05-25 04:08:39

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 May 2024
**Manicouagan Impact Crater from Space**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/iss059e019043.jpg
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Orbiting 400 kilometers above Quebec, Canada, planet Earth, the International Space Station Expedition 59 crew captured this snapshot of the broad St. Lawrence River and curiously circular Lake Manicouagan on April 11. Right of center, the ring-shaped lake is a modern reservoir within the eroded remnant of an ancient 100 kilometer diameter impact crater. The ancient crater is very conspicuous from orbit, a visible reminder that Earth is vulnerable to rocks from space. Over 200 million years old, the Manicouagan crater was likely caused by the impact of a rocky body about 5 kilometers in diameter. Currently, there is no known asteroid with a significant probability of impacting Earth in the next century. Each month, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office releases an update featuring the most recent figures on near-Earth object close approaches, and other facts about comets and asteroids that could pose a potential impact hazard with Earth.
#APOD #SpaceFacts #Astrospace #RocketLaunch #Astrobiology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240525.html

2024-05-24 04:08:51

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
24 May 2024
**M78 from the Euclid Space Telescope**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/M78_Euclid_5532.jpg
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Star formation can be messy. To help find out just how messy, ESA's new Sun-orbiting Euclid telescope recently captured the most detailed image ever of the bright star forming region M78. Near the image center, M78 lies at a distance of only about 1,300 light-years away and has a main glowing core that spans about 5 light-years. The featured image was taken in both visible and infrared light. The purple tint in M78's center is caused by dark dust preferentially reflecting the blue light of hot, young stars. Complex dust lanes and filaments can be traced through this gorgeous and revealing skyscape. On the upper left is associated star forming region NGC 2071, while a third region of star formation is visible on the lower right. These nebulas are all part of the vast Orion Molecular Cloud Complex which can be found with even a small telescope just north of Orion's belt. More Euclid Sky Candy: Recent images released from Euclid
#APOD #Astrophysics #Astrophoto #PlanetaryExploration #SpaceFacts
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240524.html

2024-05-18 04:06:25

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
18 May 2024
**North Celestial Aurora**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/AuroraStartrails_chiragupreti.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Chirag Upreti
Graceful star trail arcs reflect planet Earth's daily rotation in this colorful night skyscape. To create the timelapse composite, on May 12 consecutive exposures were recorded with a camera fixed to a tripod on the shores of the Ashokan Reservoir, in the Catskills region of New York, USA. North star Polaris is near the center of the star trail arcs. The broad trail of a waxing crescent Moon is on the left, casting a strong reflection across the reservoir waters. With intense solar activity driving recent geomagnetic storms, the colorful aurora borealis or northern lights, rare to the region, shine under Polaris and the north celestial pole. AuroraSaurus: Report your aurora observations
#APOD #NASA #Astrochemistry #Cosmology #Meteorology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240518.html

2024-05-11 04:08:37

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
11 May 2024
**AR 3664: Giant Sunspot Group**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/SunAr3664_Fantasia_3216.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Franco Fantasia &
Guiseppe Conzo
(Gruppo Astrofili Palidoro)
Right now, one of the largest sunspot groups in recent history is crossing the Sun. Active Region 3664 is not only big -- it's violent, throwing off clouds of particles into the Solar System. Some of these CMEs are already impacting the Earth, and others might follow. At the extreme, these solar storms could cause some Earth-orbiting satellites to malfunction, the Earth's atmosphere to slightly distort, and electrical power grids to surge. When impacting Earth's upper atmosphere, these particles can produce beautiful auroras, with some auroras already being reported unusually far south. Pictured here, AR3664 and its dark sunspots were captured yesterday in visible light from Rome, Italy. The AR3664 sunspot group is so large that it is visible just with glasses designed to view last month's total solar eclipse. This weekend, skygazing enthusiasts will be keenly watching the night skies all over the globe for bright and unusual auroras. Gallery: Active Region 6443 on the Sun
#APOD #SpaceIndustry #BlackHoles #Astrophoto #Astrophysics
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240511.html

2024-05-03 04:05:54

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
03 May 2024
**Temperatures on Exoplanet WASP-43b**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/STScI-WASP43b_temperature.png
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A mere 280 light-years from Earth, tidally locked, Jupiter-sized exoplanet WASP-43b orbits its parent star once every 0.8 Earth days. That puts it about 2 million kilometers (less than 1/25th the orbital distance of Mercury) from a small, cool sun. Still, on a dayside always facing its parent star, temperatures approach a torrid 2,500 degrees F as measured at infrared wavelengths by the MIRI instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope. In this illustration of the hot exoplanet's orbit, Webb measurements also show nightside temperatures remain above 1,000 degrees F. That suggests that strong equatorial winds circulate the dayside atmospheric gases to the nightside before they can completely cool off. Exoplanet WASP-43b is now formally known as Astrolábos, and its K-type parent star has been christened Gnomon. Webb's infrared spectra indicate water vapor is present on the nightside as well as the dayside of the planet, providing information about cloud cover on Astrolábos.
#APOD #Astroengineer #Astroeducation #PlanetaryExploration #Astroinformatics
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240503.html

2024-04-05 04:09:00

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
05 April 2024
**The Solar Corona Unwrapped**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2404/CoronaGraph.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Barden Ridge Observatory
Changes in the alluring solar corona are detailed in this creative composite image mapping the dynamic outer atmosphere of the Sun during two separate total solar eclipses. Unwrapped from the complete circle of the eclipsed Sun's edge to a rectangle and mirrored, the entire solar corona is shown during the 2017 eclipse (bottom) seen from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and the 2023 eclipse from Exmouth, Western Australia. While the 2017 eclipse was near a minimum in the Sun's 11 year activity cycle, the 2023 eclipse was closer to solar maximum. The 2023 solar corona hints at the dramatically different character of the active Sun, with many streamers and pinkish prominences arising along the solar limb. Of course, the solar corona is only easily visible to the eye while standing in the shadow of the Moon. NASA Coverage: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 April 8
#APOD #SpaceResearch #AstronautLife #Astrophoto #SpaceTech
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240405.html

2024-04-04 04:07:07

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
04 April 2024
**Comet Pons-Brooks at Night**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2404/12P_Pons_Brooks_2024_03_30_JuneLake_DEBartlett.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett
In dark evening skies over June Lake, northern hemisphere, planet Earth, Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks stood just above the western horizon on March 30. Its twisted turbulent ion tail and diffuse greenish coma are captured in this two degree wide telescopic field of view along with bright yellowish star Hamal also known as Alpha Arietis. Now Pons-Brooks has moved out of the northern night though, approaching perihelion on April 21. On April 8 you might still spot the comet in daytime skies. But to do it, you will have to stand in the path of totality and look away from the spectacle of an alluring solar corona and totally eclipsed Sun. NASA Coverage: Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 April 8
#APOD #SpaceDiscovery #SpaceWeather #SpaceAdventures #Astrobiology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240404.html

2024-01-14 05:05:03

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
14 January 2024
**Dragon Aurora over Iceland**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2401/DragonAurora_Zhang_2241.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Jingyi Zhang & Wang Zheng
Have you ever seen a dragon in the sky? Although real flying dragons don't exist, a huge dragon-shaped aurora developed in the sky over Iceland in 2019. The aurora was caused by a hole in the Sun's corona that expelled charged particles into a solar wind that followed a changing interplanetary magnetic field to Earth's magnetosphere. As some of those particles then struck Earth's atmosphere, they excited atoms which subsequently emitted light: aurora. This iconic display was so enthralling that the photographer's mother ran out to see it and was captured in the foreground. Our active Sun continues to show an unusually high number of prominences, filaments, sunspots, and large active regions as solar maximum approaches in 2025.
#APOD #PlanetaryScience #Astrochemistry #Research #Meteorology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240114.html

2023-11-01 04:06:35

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
01 November 2023
**Annular Solar Eclipse over Utah**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2311/UtahEclipse_Kiczenski_1480.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
MaryBeth Kiczenski
Part of the Sun disappeared earlier this month, but few people were worried. The missing part, which included the center from some locations, just went behind the Moon in what is known as an annular solar eclipse. Featured here is an eclipse sequence taken as the Moon was overtaking the rising Sun in the sky. The foreground hill is Factory Butte in Utah, USA. The rays flaring out from the Sun are not real -- they result from camera aperture diffraction and are known as sunstar. The Moon is real, but it is artificially brightened to enhance its outline -- which helps the viewer better visualize the Moon's changing position during this ring-of-fire eclipse. As stunning as this eclipse sequence is, it was considered just practice by the astrophotographer. The reason? She hopes to use this experience to better photograph the total solar eclipse that will occur over North America on April 8, 2024. Apply today (USA): Become a NASA Partner Eclipse Ambassador Eclipse Album: Selected images sent in to APOD
#APOD #AstronautLife #Astroengineering #Exploration #CosmicWonders
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231101.html

2023-10-25 04:06:50

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 October 2023
**Gone in 60 Seconds: A Green Flash Sunset**
https://www.youtube.com/embed/J3_88eyN44w?rel=0
Image Credit & Copyright:
Tengyu Cai
In 60 seconds, this setting Sun will turn green. Actually, the top of the Sun already appears not only green, but wavey -- along with all of its edges. The Sun itself is unchanged -- both effects are caused by looking along hot and cold layers in Earth's atmosphere. The unusual color is known as a green flash and occurs because these atmospheric layers not only shift background images but disperse colors into slightly different directions, like a prism. The featured video was captured earlier this month off the coast of Hawaii, USA. After waiting those 60 seconds, at the video's end, the upper part of the Sun seems to hover alone in space, while turning not only green, but blue. Then suddenly, the Sun appears to shrink to nothing -- only to return tomorrow.
#APOD #GalacticAdventures #SpaceMission #Astrotheory #SpaceExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231025.html

2023-09-22 04:11:57

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
22 September 2023
**Cosmos in Reflection**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2309/CosmosinReflection-1.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai
During the day, over 12,000 large mirrors reflect sunlight at the 100-megawatt, molten-salt, solar thermal power plant at the western edge of the Gobi desert near Dunhuang, Gansu Province, China. Individual mirror panels turn to track the sun like sunflowers. They conspire to act as a single super mirror reflecting the sunlight toward a fixed position, the power station's central tower. During the night the mirrors stand motionless though. They reflect the light of the countless distant stars, clusters and nebulae of the Milky Way and beyond. This sci-fi night skyscape was created with a camera fixed to a tripod near the edge of the giant mirror matrix on September 15. The camera's combined sequence of digital exposures captures concentric arcs of celestial star trails through the night with star trails in surreal mirrored reflection.
#APOD #MeteorShowers #GalaxyExploration #AstronomyLovers #SpaceExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230922.html

2023-09-15 04:06:06

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
15 September 2023
**Venus, Moon, and the Smoking Mountain**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2309/IMG_3603.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Luis Miguel Meade Rodríguez
Venus has returned as a brilliant morning star. From a window seat on a flight to Mexico City, the bright celestial beacon was captured just before sunrise in this astronomical snapshot, taken on September 12. Venus, at the upper right, shared the early predawn skies with an old crescent Moon. Seen from this stratospheric perspective, both mountain peaks and clouds appear in silhouette along a glowing eastern horizon. The dramatic, long, low cloud bank was created by venting from planet Earth's active volcano Popocatépetl.
#APOD #Galaxy #Stars #SpaceTech #CosmosJourney
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230915.html

2023-09-11 04:08:46

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
11 September 2023
**Beautiful Comet Nishimura**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2309/BeautNishimura_Horalek_1500.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Petr Horálek /
Institute of Physics in Opava
This scene would be beautiful even without the comet. By itself, the sunrise sky is an elegant deep blue on high, with faint white stars peeking through, while near the horizon is a pleasing tan. By itself, the foreground hills of eastern Slovakia are appealingly green, with the Zadňa hura and Veľká hora hills in the distance, and with the lights of small towns along the way. Venus, by itself on the right, appears unusually exquisite, surrounded by a colorful atmospheric corona. But what attracts the eye most is the comet. On the left, in this composite image taken just before dawn yesterday morning, is Comet Nishimura. On recent mornings around the globe, its bright coma and long ion tail make many a morning panoramic photo unusually beautiful. Tomorrow, C/2023 P1 (Nishimura) will pass its nearest to the Earth for about the next 434 years.
#APOD #MeteorShowers #Astrochemistry #Astrogeology #SpaceObservatory
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230911.html

2023-06-20 04:05:18

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
20 June 2023
**The Ñandú in the Milky Way**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2306/NanduMilkyWay_Bouvier_2048.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Fefo Bouvier;
Line Drawing: Alfonso Rosso
Have you seen the bird in the Milky Way? Beyond the man in the Moon, the night sky is filled with stories, and cultures throughout history have projected some of their most enduring legends onto the stars and dust above. Generations of people see these celestial icons, hear their associated stories, and pass them down. Pictured here is not only a segment of the central band of our Milky Way galaxy, but, according to folklore of several native peoples of Uruguay, the outline of a great bird called Ñandú. Furthermore, Ñandú's footprint is associated with the Southern Cross asterism. In the foreground, in silhouette, is a statue of María Micaela Guyunusa, an indigenous woman of the Charrúa people who lived in the 1800s and endures as a symbol of colonial resistance. The composite image was taken in mid-April in Cabo Polonio, Uruguay, with the Atlantic Ocean in the background.
#APOD #RocketLaunch #MilkyWay #SpaceTravel #SpaceExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230620.html