Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 22
A full Moon is shown but with a much more detailed surface than is
usually visible. Many craters, dark lunar mare, and light lunar
highlands are discernable. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Terminator Moon: A Moonscape of Shadows
Image Credit & Copyright: Rich Addis

Explanation: What's different about this Moon? It's the terminators. In
the featured image, you can't directly see any terminator -- the line
that divides the light of day from the dark of night. That's because
the featured image is a digital composite of many near-terminator lunar
strips over a full Moon. Terminator regions show the longest and most
prominent shadows -- shadows which, by their contrast and length, allow
a flat photograph to appear three-dimensional. The overlay images were
taken over two weeks in early April. Many of the Moon's craters stand
out because of the shadows they all cast to the right. The image shows
in graphic detail that the darker regions known as maria are not just
darker than the rest of the Moon -- they are also flatter.

Dial-A-Moon: Find the Moon phase on your birthday this year
Tomorrow's picture: almost everything
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 22

Rima Hyginus
Image Credit & Copyright: Vincenzo Mirabella

Explanation: Rima Hyginus is a spectacular fissure, some 220 kilometers
long, found near the center of the lunar near side. Easy to spot in
telescopic views of the Moon, it stretches top left to bottom right
across this lunar closeup. The image was made with exaggerated colors
that reflect the mineral composition of the lunar soil. Hyginus crater
lies near the center of the narrow lunar surface groove. About 10
kilometers in diameter, the low-walled crater is a volcanic caldera,
one of the larger non-impact craters on the lunar surface. Dotted with
small pits formed by surface collapse, Hyginus rima itself was likely
created by stresses due to internal magma upwelling and collapse along
a long surface fault. The intriguing region was a candidate landing
site for the canceled Apollo 19 mission.

Tomorrow's picture: northern Saturn
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 23
The planet Saturn is seen very close up. The clouds are tinted beige
and tan, while parts of rings are seen at the top and bottom of the
image. At the north pole of Saturn at the top, a blue-tinted hexagon is
visible. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Saturn in Infrared from Cassini
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SSI; Processing: Maksim Kakitsev

Explanation: Saturn looks slightly different in infrared light. Bands
of clouds show great structure, including long stretching storms. Also
quite striking in infrared is the unusual hexagonal cloud pattern
surrounding Saturn's North Pole. Each side of the dark hexagon spans
roughly the width of our Earth. The hexagon's existence was not
predicted, and its origin and likely stability remain a topics of
research. Saturn's famous rings circle the planet and cast shadows
below the equator. The featured image was taken by the robotic Cassini
spacecraft in 2014 in several infrared colors. In 2017 September, the
Cassini mission was brought to a dramatic conclusion when the
spacecraft was directed to dive into the ringed giant.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: lava sky
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 24
A slope of volcano is pictured with red glowing lava running down its
side. A dark starry sky is in the background. Up into the sky a red
column is visible. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Light Pillar over Erupting Etna
Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Cali+#

Explanation: Can a lava flow extend into the sky? No, but light from
the lava flow can. One effect is something quite unusual -- a volcanic
light pillar. More typically, light pillars are caused by sunlight and
so appear as a bright column that extends upward above a rising or
setting Sun. Alternatively, other light pillars -- some quite colorful
-- have been recorded above street and house lights. This light pillar,
though, was illuminated by the red light emitted by the glowing magma
of an erupting volcano. The volcano is Italy's Mount Etna, and the
featured image was captured with a single shot during an early morning
in mid-February. Freezing temperatures above the volcano's lava flow
created ice-crystals either in the air above the volcano or in
condensed water vapor expelled by Mount Etna. These ice crystals --
mostly flat toward the ground but fluttering -- then reflected away
light from the volcano's caldera.

Tomorrow's picture: stars between curtains
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 25
A starscape is shown with red filaments running diagonally from the
lower left to the upper right. Many bright blue stars are visible
across the center of the frame. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

M41: The Little Beehive Star Cluster
Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li

Explanation: Why are there so many bright blue stars? Stars are usually
born in clusters, and the brightest and most massive of these stars
typically glow blue. Less-bright, non-blue stars like our Sun surely
also exist in this M41 star cluster but are harder to see. A few bright
orange-appearing red giant stars are visible. The red-light filaments
are emitted by diffuse hydrogen gas, a color that was specifically
filtered and enhanced in this image. In a hundred million years or so,
the bright blue stars will have exploded in supernovas and disappeared,
while the slightly different trajectories of the fainter stars will
cause this picturesque open cluster to disperse. Similarly, billions of
years ago, our own Sun was likely born into a star cluster like M41,
but it has long since drifted apart from its sister stars. The featured
image was captured over four hours with Chilescope T2 in Chile.

Tomorrow's picture: Einstein's ring
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 26
A cluster of galaxies is shown with many galaxies around the cluster
center. A close look at this center shows that it is encompassed by a
narrow ring of light. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Einstein Ring Surrounds Nearby Galaxy Center
Image Credit & Copyright: ESA, NASA, Euclid Consortium; Processing:
J.-C. Cuillandre, G. Anselmi, T. Li

Explanation: Do you see the ring? If you look very closely at the
center of the featured galaxy NGC 6505, a ring becomes evident. It is
the gravity of NGC 6505, the nearby (z = 0.042) elliptical galaxy that
you can easily see, that is magnifying and distorting the image of a
distant galaxy into a complete circle. To create a complete Einstein
ring there must be perfect alignment of the nearby galaxy's center and
part of the background galaxy. Analysis of this ring and the multiple
images of the background galaxy help to determine the mass and fraction
of dark matter in NGC 6505's center, as well as uncover previously
unseen details in the distorted galaxy. The featured image was captured
by ESA's Earth-orbiting Euclid telescope in 2023 and released earlier
this month.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 27

Open Star Clusters M35 and NGC 2158
Image Credit & Copyright: Evan Tsai, LATTE: Lulin-ASIAA Telescope

Explanation: Framed in this single, starry, telescopic field of view
are two open star clusters, M35 and NGC 2158. Located within the
boundaries of the constellation Gemini, they do appear to be side by
side. Its stars concentrated toward the upper right, M35 is relatively
nearby, though. M35 (also cataloged as NGC 2168) is a mere 2800
light-years distant, with 400 or so stars spread out over a volume
about 30 light-years across. Bright blue stars frequently distinguish
younger open clusters like M35, whose age is estimated at 150 million
years. At lower left, NGC 2158 is about four times more distant than
M35 and much more compact, shining with the more yellowish light of a
population of stars over 10 times older. In general, open star clusters
are found along the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Loosely
gravitationally bound, their member stars tend to be dispersed over
billions of years as the open star clusters orbit the galactic center.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 February 28

Athena to the Moon
Image Credit: Intuitive Machines

Explanation: Planet Earth hangs in the background of this space age
selfie. The snapshot was captured by the IM-2 Nova-C lander Athena,
just after stage separation following its February 26 launch to the
Moon. A tall robotic lander, Athena is scheduled to touch down on
Thursday, March 6, in Mons Mouton, a plateau near the MoonCÇÖs South
Pole. The intended landing site is in the central portion of one of the
Artemis 3 potential landing regions. Athena carries rovers and
experiments as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services
program, including a drill intended to explore beneath the lunar
surface in a search for evidence of frozen water. It also carries a
propulsive drone dubbed the Micro Nova Hopper. After release to the
lunar surface, the autonomous drone is intended to hop into a nearby
crater and send science data back to the lander.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 1

Blue Ghost to the Moon
Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Explanation: With spacecraft thrusters at top center, the rugged
surface of the Moon lies below the Blue Ghost lander in this space age
video frame. The view of the lunar far side was captured by the Firefly
Aerospace lunar lander on February 24, following a maneuver to
circularize its orbit about 100 kilometers above the lunar surface. The
robotic lunar lander is scheduled to touch down tomorrow, Sunday, March
2, at 3:34am Eastern Time in the Mare Crisium impact basin on the lunar
near side. In support of the Artemis campaign, Blue Ghost is set to
deliver science and technology experiments to the Moon, part of NASA's
Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Blue Ghost's mission on the
surface is planned to operate during the lunar daylight hours at the
landing site, about 14 Earth days.

Tomorrow's picture: light and sound
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 2

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in Light and Sound
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Sonification: G. Salvesen; Data: M.
Rafelski et al.

Explanation: Have you heard about the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field? Either
way, you've likely not heard about it like this -- please run your
cursor over the featured image and listen! The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field
(HUDF) was created in 2003-2004 with the Hubble Space Telescope staring
for a long time toward near-empty space so that distant, faint galaxies
would become visible. One of the most famous images in astronomy, the
HUDF is featured here in a vibrant way -- with sonified distances.
Pointing to a galaxy will play a note that indicates its approximate
redshift. Because redshifts shift light toward the red end of the
spectrum of light, they are depicted here by a shift of tone toward the
low end of the spectrum of sound. The further the galaxy, the greater
its cosmological redshift (even if it appears blue), and the lower the
tone that will be played. The average galaxy in the HUDF is about 10.6
billion light years away and sounds like an F#. What's the most distant
galaxy you can find?

Tomorrow's picture: quadruple alignment
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 3
A dark sky is shown above a bright desolate landscape. The landscape is
the Moon and large shadows appear, with one being the shadow of lunar
lander. A bright dot appears over the horizon that is distant planet
Earth. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Blue Ghost on the Moon
Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Explanation: There's a new lander on the Moon. Yesterday Firefly
Aerospace's Blue Ghost executed the first-ever successful commercial
lunar landing. During its planned 60-day mission, Blue Ghost will
deploy several NASA-commissioned scientific instruments, including
PlanetVac which captures lunar dust after creating a small whirlwind of
gas. Blue Ghost will also host the telescope LEXI that captures X-ray
images of the Earth's magnetosphere. LEXI data should enable a better
understanding of how Earth's magnetic field protects the Earth from the
Sun's wind and flares. Pictured, the shadow of the Blue Ghost lander is
visible on the cratered lunar surface, while the glowing orb of the
planet Earth hovers just over the horizon. Goals for future robotic
Blue Ghost landers include supporting lunar astronauts in NASA's
Artemis program, with Artemis III currently scheduled to land humans
back on the Moon in 2027.

Tomorrow's picture: quadruple alignment
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 4
A hazy night sky shows four lined up items. The closest two are lit-up
buildings on hills. Looming large in the background, in alignment, is a
gibbous Moon, distorted and reddened by the Earth's atmosphere. Across
the Moon's face is a streak that is an airplane. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

A Quadruple Alignment over Italy
Image Credit & Copyright: Valerio Minato

Explanation: Why does this Moon look so unusual? A key reason is its
vivid red color. The color is caused by the deflection of blue light by
Earth's atmosphere -- the same reason that the daytime sky appears
blue. The Moon also appears unusually distorted. Its strange
structuring is an optical effect arising from layers in the Earth's
atmosphere that refract light differently due to sudden differences in
temperature or pressure. A third reason the Moon looks so unusual is
that there is, by chance, an airplane flying in front. The featured
picturesque gibbous Moon was captured about two weeks ago above Turin,
Italy. Our familiar hovering sky orb was part of an unusual quadruple
alignment that included two historic ground structures: the Sacra di
San Michele on the near hill and Basilica of Superga just beyond.

Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your friend's
birthday? (post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: star sisters
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 5
The featured image shows a wide field with the red California Nebula on
the left, the blue Pleiades Star Cluster on the right, and much brown
interstellar dust in between. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Seven Sisters versus California
Image Credit & Copyright: Todd Anderson

Explanation: On the right, dressed in blue, is the Pleiades. Also known
as the Seven Sisters and M45, the Pleiades is one of the brightest and
most easily visible open clusters on the sky. The Pleiades contains
over 3,000 stars, is about 400 light years away, and only 13 light
years across. Surrounding the stars is a spectacular blue reflection
nebula made of fine dust. A common legend is that one of the brighter
stars faded since the cluster was named. On the left, shining in red,
is the California Nebula. Named for its shape, the California Nebula is
much dimmer and hence harder to see than the Pleiades. Also known as
NGC 1499, this mass of red glowing hydrogen gas is about 1,500 light
years away. Although about 25 full moons could fit between them, the
featured wide angle, deep field image composite has captured them both.
A careful inspection of the deep image will also reveal the star
forming region IC 348 and the molecular cloud LBN 777 (the Baby Eagle
Nebula).

Jump Around the Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 6

Starburst Galaxy Messier 94
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble and NASA

Explanation: Beautiful island universe Messier 94 lies a mere 15
million light-years distant in the northern constellation of the
hunting dogs, Canes Venatici. A popular target for earth-based
astronomers, the face-on spiral galaxy is about 30,000 light-years
across, with spiral arms sweeping through the outskirts of its broad
disk. But this Hubble Space Telescope field of view spans about 7,000
light-years or so across M94's central region. The sharp close-up
examines the galaxy's compact, bright nucleus and prominent inner dust
lanes, surrounded by a remarkable bluish ring of young, massive stars.
The massive stars in the ring appear to be less than about 10 million
years old, indicating the galaxy experienced a corresponding
well-defined era of rapid star formation. As a result, while the small,
bright nucleus is typical of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, M94
is also known as a starburst galaxy. Because M94 is relatively nearby,
astronomers can explore in detail reasons for the galaxy's burst of
star formation.

Today's Coverage: Moon Landing
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 7

Planetary Nebula Abell 7
Image Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander

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. Surrounded by Milky Way
stars and near the line-of-sight to distant background galaxies its
generally simple spherical shape, about 8 light-years in diameter, is
revealed in this deep telescopic image. Within the cosmic cloud are
beautiful and complex structures though, enhanced by the use of long
exposures and narrowband filters that capture emission from hydrogen,
sulfur, 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.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 8

Galaxies in Space
Image Credit & License: NASA, ISS Expedition 72, Don Petit

Explanation: The plane of our Milky Way galaxy extends beyond the limb
of planet Earth in this space age exposure captured by astronaut Don
Pettit. His camera, with low light and long duration settings, was
pointed out the window of a Dragon crew spacecraft docked with the
International Space Station on January 29. The orbital outpost was at
an altitude of about 400 kilometers above the Pacific Ocean at the
time. Motion blurs the Earth below, while the gorgeous view from low
Earth orbit includes the Milky Way's prominent satellite galaxies,
known as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, near the upper left in
the frame. Fans of southern skies can also spot the Southern Cross. The
four brightest stars of the famous southern constellation Crux are near
picture center, just beyond the edge of the bright horizon and shining
through Earth's orange tinted atmospheric glow.

Tomorrow's picture: Cyclones on Jupiter
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 9
The image shows the north pole of Jupiter in red (infrared) light. Many
cyclonic swirls surround the pole. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Cyclones at Jupiter's North Pole
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, ASI, INAF, JIRAM

Explanation: Why are there so many cyclones around the north pole of
Jupiter? The topic is still being researched. NASA's robotic Juno
mission orbiting Jupiter took data in 2018 that was used to construct
this stunning view of the curious cyclones at Jupiter's north pole.
Measuring the thermal emission from Jovian cloud tops, the infrared
observations are not restricted to the hemisphere illuminated by
sunlight. They reveal eight cyclonic features that surround a cyclone
about 4,000 kilometers in diameter, just offset from the giant planet's
geographic north pole. Similar data show a cyclone at the Jovian south
pole with five circumpolar cyclones. The south pole cyclones are
slightly larger than their northern cousins. Oddly, data from the once
Saturn-orbiting Cassini mission has shown that Saturn's north and south
poles each have only a single cyclonic storm system.

Tomorrow's picture: california red
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 10
The starry image filled with a red glow features a red, yellow, and
blue colored nebula. The nebula has, roughly, the shape of the US state
of California. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

NGC 1499: The California Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Toni Fabiani Mendez

Explanation: Could Queen Calafia's mythical island exist in space?
Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud
echoes the outline of the state of California, USA. Our Sun has its
home within the Milky Way's Orion Arm, only about 1,000 light-years
from the California Nebula. Also known as NGC 1499, the classic
emission nebula is around 100 light-years long. On the featured image,
the most prominent glow of the California Nebula is the red light
characteristic of hydrogen atoms recombining with long lost electrons,
stripped away (ionized) by energetic starlight. The star most likely
providing the energetic starlight that ionizes much of the nebular gas
is the bright, hot, bluish Xi Persei just to the right of the nebula. A
regular target for astrophotographers, the California Nebula can be
spotted with a wide-field telescope under a dark sky toward the
constellation of Perseus, not far from the Pleiades.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: galaxy bar
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 11
A spiral galaxy is shown in great detail. Visible are blue star
clusters, red nebulas, and brown dust in a spiral pattern around the
image and galaxy center. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

NGC 1672: Barred Spiral Galaxy from Hubble
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. Fox, L. Jenkins, S. Van Dyk, A.
Filippenko, J. Lee and the PHANGS-HST Team, D. de Martin (ESA/Hubble),
M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)

Explanation: Many spiral galaxies have bars across their centers. Even
our own Milky Way Galaxy is thought to have a modest central bar.
Prominently barred spiral galaxy NGC 1672, featured here, was captured
in spectacular detail in an image taken by the orbiting Hubble Space
Telescope. Visible are dark filamentary dust lanes, young clusters of
bright blue stars, red emission nebulas of glowing hydrogen gas, a long
bright bar of stars across the center, and a bright active nucleus that
likely houses a supermassive black hole. Light takes about 60 million
years to reach us from NGC 1672, which spans about 75,000 light years
across. NGC 1672, which appears toward the constellation of the
Dolphinfish (Dorado), has been studied to find out how a spiral bar
contributes to star formation in a galaxy's central regions.

Tomorrow's picture: comet versus galaxy
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 12
A dark field is filled with stars and galaxies. A large spiral galaxy
appears on the upper left. Toward the right, there is a smaller fuzzy
patch that is a comet with a short tail. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

NGC 772: The Fiddlehead Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Jean-Fran+ºois Bax & Serge Brunier, OCA/C2PU;
Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.)

Explanation: Why does this galaxy look like a curly vegetable? The
Fiddlehead spiral galaxy likely gets its distorted spiral appearance
from a gravitational interaction with its close-by elliptical companion
NGC 770, seen just below. Cataloged as NGC 772 and Arp 78, the
Fiddlehead spans over 200,000 light years, is a nearby 100 million
light years beyond the stars of our Milky Way galaxy, and is visible
toward the constellation of the Ram (Aries). But in the featured image,
the Fiddlehead appears to have another companion -- one with a long and
fuzzy tail: Comet 43P/Wolf-Harrington. Though the comet appears to be
aimed straight at the massive galaxy, it is actually much closer to us,
residing only light minutes away -- well within our Solar System. The
comet will never reach the distant spiral galaxy, nor is it physically
related to it. By a fortunate trick of perspective, though, these two
cosmic wonders briefly share the same frame taken late last year from
Calern, France.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 13

The Protostars within Lynds 483
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA,

Explanation: Two protostars are hidden in a single pixel near the
center of a striking hourglass-shaped nebula in this near-infrared
image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The actively forming star
system lies in a dusty molecular cloud cataloged as Lynds 483, some 650
light-years distant toward the constellation Serpens Cauda. Responsible
for the stunning bipolar outflows, the collapsing protostars have been
blasting out collimated energetic jets of material over tens of
thousands of years. Webb's high-resolution view shows the violence of
star-formation in dramatic detail as twisting shock fronts expand and
collide with slower, denser material. The premier close-up of the
star-forming region spans less than 1/2 a light-year within dark nebula
Lynds 483.

March 13/14: Total Lunar Eclipse Tomorrow's picture: Moon Pi
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 14

Moon Pi and Mountain Shadow
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Lopez (El Cielo de Canarias)

Explanation: What phase of the Moon is 3.14 radians from the Sun? The
Full Moon, of course. Even though the Moon might look full for several
days, the Moon is truly at its full phase when it is Pi radians (aka
180 degrees) from the Sun in ecliptic longitude. That's opposite the
Sun in planet Earth's sky. Rising as the Sun set on March 9, 2020, only
an hour or so after the moment of its full phase, this orange tinted
and slightly flattened Moon still looked full. It was photographed
opposite the setting Sun from Teide National Park on the Canary Island
of Tenerife. Also opposite the setting Sun, seen from near the Teide
volcano peak about 3,500 meters above sea level, is the mountain's
rising triangular shadow extending into Earth's dense atmosphere. Below
the distant ridge line on the left are the white telescope domes of
Teide Observatory. Today, March 14 2025, the moon is Pi radians from
the Sun at exactly 06:55 UTC. That's about three minutes before the
midpoint of the March Full Moon's total lunar eclipse.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 March 15

Tololo Totality
Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Hor+ílek/CTIO (Cerro Tololo Observatory)
/AURA/NSF/ NOIRLab

Explanation: On March 14 the Moon was Full. In an appropriate
celebration of Pi day, that put the Moon 3.14 radians (180 degrees) in
ecliptic longitude from the Sun in planet Earth's sky. As a bonus for
fans of Pi and the night sky, on that date the Moon also passed
directly through Earth's umbral shadow in a total lunar eclipse. In
clear skies, the colors of an eclipsed Moon can be vivid. Reflecting
the deeply reddened sunlight scattered into Earth's shadow, the
darkened lunar disk was recorded in this time series composite image
from Cerro Tololo Observatory, Chile. The lunar triptych captures the
start, middle, and end of the total eclipse phase that lasted about an
hour. A faint bluish tint seen just along the brighter lunar limb at
the shadow's edge is due to sunlight filtered through Earth's
stratospheric ozone layer.

Growing Gallery: Total Lunar Eclipse of 2025 March
Tomorrow's picture: Venusian silhouette
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 March 16
An image of the Sun in three colors of ultraviolet light showing the
transit circle of Venus and a deep coronal hole in dark blue. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Venus and the Triply Ultraviolet Sun
Image Credit: NASA/SDO & the AIA, EVE, and HMI teams; Digital
Composition: Peter L. Dove

Explanation: This was a very unusual type of solar eclipse. Typically,
it is the Earth's Moon that eclipses the Sun. In 2012, though, the
planet Venus took a turn. Like a solar eclipse by the Moon, the phase
of Venus became a continually thinner crescent as Venus became
increasingly better aligned with the Sun. Eventually the alignment
became perfect and the phase of Venus dropped to zero. The dark spot of
Venus crossed our parent star. The situation could technically be
labeled a Venusian annular eclipse with an extraordinarily large ring
of fire. Pictured here during the occultation, the Sun was imaged in
three colors of ultraviolet light by the Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics
Observatory, with the dark region toward the right corresponding to a
coronal hole. Hours later, as Venus continued in its orbit, a slight
crescent phase appeared again. The next Venusian transit across the Sun
will occur in 2117.

Tomorrow's picture: big hat
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 17
The image shows a starfield with an oval shaped red and light-blue
tinged nebula in the center Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Thor's Helmet
Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Hopkins (East Coast Astronomer)

Explanation: Thor not only has his own day (Thursday), but a helmet in
the heavens. Popularly called Thor's Helmet, NGC 2359 is a hat-shaped
cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages. Heroically sized even for a
Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the
cosmic head-covering is more like an interstellar bubble, blown by a
fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center. Known
as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant
thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is
located about 15,000 light-years away toward the constellation of the
Great Overdog. This sharp image is a mixed cocktail of data from
narrowband filters, capturing not only natural looking stars but
details of the nebula's filamentary structures. The star in the center
of Thor's Helmet is expected to explode in a spectacular supernova
sometime within the next few thousand years.

Tomorrow's picture: sky danger
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 18
A dark brown cloud that appears similar to a shark is seen against a
background filled with stars and less prominent blue-shaded nebulas.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

LDN 1235: The Shark Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Timothy Martin

Explanation: There is no sea on Earth large enough to contain the Shark
nebula. This predator apparition poses us no danger as it is composed
only of interstellar gas and dust. Dark dust like that featured here is
somewhat like cigarette smoke and created in the cool atmospheres of
giant stars. After expelling gas and gravitationally recondensing,
massive stars may carve intricate structures into their birth cloud
using their high energy light and fast stellar winds as sculpting
tools. The heat they generate evaporates the murky molecular cloud as
well as causing ambient hydrogen gas to disperse and glow red. During
disintegration, we humans can enjoy imagining these great clouds as
common icons, like we do for water clouds on Earth. Including smaller
dust nebulae such as Van den Bergh 149 & 150, the Shark nebula,
sometimes cataloged as LDN 1235, spans about 15 light years and lies
about 650 light years away toward the constellation of the King of
Aethiopia (Cepheus).

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 19

Blue Ghost's Diamond Ring
Image Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Explanation: On March 14 the Full Moon slid through Earth's dark umbral
shadow and denizens of planet Earth were treated to a total lunar
eclipse. Of course, from the Moon's near side that same astronomical
syzygy was seen as a solar eclipse. Operating in the Mare Crisium on
the lunar surface, the Blue Ghost lander captured this video frame of
Earth in silhouette around 3:30am CDT, just as the Sun was emerging
from behind the terrestrial disk. From Blue Ghost's lunar perspective
the beautiful diamond ring effect, familiar to earthbound solar eclipse
watchers, is striking. Since Earth appears about four times the
apparent size of the Sun from the lunar surface the inner solar corona,
the atmosphere of the Sun most easily seen from Earth during a total
solar eclipse, is hidden from view. Still, scattering in Earth's dense
atmosphere creates the glowing band of sunlight embracing our fair
planet.

Tomorrow's picture: welcome to the equinox
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 20

The Solar Eclipse Analemma Project
Image Credit & Copyright: Hunter Wells

Explanation: Recorded from 2024 March 10, to 2025 March 1, this
composited series of images reveals a pattern in the seasonal drift of
the Sun's daily motion through planet Earth's sky. Known to some as an
analemma, the figure-eight curve was captured in exposures taken on the
indicated dates only at 18:38 UTC from the exact same location south of
Stephenville, Texas. The Sun's position on the 2024 solstice dates of
June 20 and December 21 would be at the top and bottom of the curve and
correspond to the astronomical beginning of summer and winter in the
north. Points that lie along the curve half-way between the solstices
would mark the equinoxes. The 2024 equinox on September 22, and in 2025
the equinox on March 20 (today) are the start of northern fall and
spring. And since one of the exposures was made on 2024 April 8 from
the Stephenville location at 18:38:40 UTC, this analemma project also
reveals the solar corona in planet Earth's sky during a total solar
eclipse.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 21

The Leo Trio
Image Credit & Copyright: Rabeea Alkuwari

Explanation: This popular group leaps into the early evening sky around
the March equinox and the northern hemisphere spring. Famous as the Leo
Triplet, the three magnificent galaxies found in the prominent
constellation Leo gather here in one astronomical field of view. Crowd
pleasers when imaged with even modest telescopes, they can be
introduced individually as NGC 3628 (bottom left), M66 (middle right),
and M65 (top center). All three are large spiral galaxies but tend to
look dissimilar, because their galactic disks are tilted at different
angles to our line of sight. NGC 3628, also known as the Hamburger
Galaxy, is temptingly seen edge-on, with obscuring dust lanes cutting
across its puffy galactic plane. The disks of M66 and M65 are both
inclined enough to show off their spiral structure. Gravitational
interactions between galaxies in the group have left telltale signs,
including the tidal tails and warped, inflated disk of NGC 3628 and the
drawn out spiral arms of M66. This gorgeous view of the region spans
over 1 degree (two full moons) on the sky. Captured with a telescope
from Sawda Natheel, Qatar, planet Earth, the frame covers over half a
million light-years at the Leo Trio's estimated 30 million light-year
distance.

Tomorrow's picture: one hand clapping
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 22

SuperCam Target on Ma'az
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL/CNES/CNRS

Explanation: What's the sound of one laser zapping? There's no need to
consult a Zen master to find out, just listen to the first acoustic
recording of laser shots on Mars. On Mars Rover Perseverance mission
sol 12 (March 2, 2021) the SuperCam instrument atop the rover's mast
zapped a rock dubbed Ma'az 30 times from a range of about 3.1 meters.
Its microphone recorded the soft staccato popping sounds of the rapid
series of SuperCam laser zaps. Shockwaves created in the thin Martian
atmosphere as bits of rock are vaporized by the laser shots make the
popping sounds, sounds that offer clues to the physical structure of
the target. This SuperCam close-up of the Ma'az target region is 6
centimeters (2.3 inches) across. Ma'az means Mars in the Navajo
language.

IFRAME:
https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/track
s/1004116528%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-Da5U96EOyre&color=%23ff55

Tomorrow's picture: once upon a beach
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 March 23
Rocks and brown sand occupy this horizontally compressed image of Mars.
At the top is a light colored peak. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Ancient Ogunquit Beach on Mars
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, Curiosity Rover

Explanation: This was once a beach -- on ancient Mars. The featured
360-degree panorama, horizontally compressed, was taken in 2017 by the
robotic Curiosity rover that explored the red planet. Named Ogunquit
Beach after its terrestrial counterpart, evidence shows that at times
long ago the area was underwater, while at other times it was at the
edge of an ancient lake. The light peak in the central background is
the top of Mount Sharp, the central feature in Gale Crater where
Curiosity explored. Portions of the dark sands in the foreground were
scooped up for analysis. The light colored bedrock is composed of
sediment that likely settled at the bottom of the now-dried lakebed.
The featured panorama (interactive version here) was created from over
100 images and seemingly signed by the rover on the lower left.

Tomorrow's picture: moon goes dark
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 24

A Total Lunar Eclipse Over Uruguay
Video Credit & Copyright: Mauricio Salazar

Explanation: If the full Moon suddenly faded, what would you see? The
answer was recorded in a dramatic time lapse video taken during the
total lunar eclipse last week from Uruguay. During a total lunar
eclipse, the Earth moves between the Moon and the Sun, causing the Moon
to fade dramatically. The Moon never gets completely dark, though,
since the Earth's atmosphere refracts some light. As the featured video
begins, the scene may appear to be daytime and sunlit, but actually it
is nighttime and lit by the glow of the full Moon. As the Moon becomes
eclipsed and fades, background stars become visible. Most
spectacularly, the sky surrounding the eclipsed moon suddenly appears
to be full of stars and highlighted by the busy plane of our Milky Way
Galaxy. Nearly two hours after the eclipse started, the Moon emerged
from the Earth's shadow and its bright full glare again dominated the
sky.

Tomorrow's picture: moon glows blue
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 March 25
A developing total lunar eclipse is shown in three frames. At the top
part of the uneclipsed Moon is visible with a distinctive blue band
separating it from the rest of the reddened Moon. The middle frame
shows a mostly reddened Moon with a the blue band just visible on the
upper right, while the lowest frame shows an entirely eclipsed moon all
in red. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Blue Banded Blood Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Zixiong Jin

Explanation: What causes a blue band to cross the Moon during a lunar
eclipse? The blue band is real but usually quite hard to see. The
featured HDR image of last week's lunar eclipse, however -- taken from
Norman, Oklahoma (USA) -- has been digitally processed to exaggerate
the colors. The gray color on the upper right of the top lunar image is
the Moon's natural color, directly illuminated by sunlight. The lower
parts of the Moon on all three images are not directly lit by the Sun
since it is being eclipsed -- it is in the Earth's shadow. It is
faintly lit, though, by sunlight that has passed deep through Earth's
atmosphere. This part of the Moon is red -- and called a blood Moon --
for the same reason that Earth's sunsets are red: because air scatters
away more blue light than red. The unusual purple-blue band visible on
the upper right of the top and middle images is different -- its color
is augmented by sunlight that has passed high through Earth's
atmosphere, where red light is better absorbed by ozone than blue.

Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: star factory
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 26
A starfield dominated by a large nebula is pictured. The center is blue
and the perimeter is red. Many dark dust pillars are visible. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Star Formation in the Pacman Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Montilla (AAE)

Explanation: You'd think the Pacman Nebula would be eating stars, but
actually it is forming them. Within the nebula, a cluster's young,
massive stars are powering the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching
shapes looming in the featured portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted dusty
columns and dense Bok globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense,
energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they
survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future
star formation. Playfully called the Pacman Nebula because of its
overall shape, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the
constellation Cassiopeia. This sharp composite image was made through
narrow-band filters in Spain in mid 2024. It combines emissions from
the nebula's hydrogen and oxygen atoms to synthesize red, green, and
blue colors. The scene spans well over 80 light-years at the estimated
distance of NGC 281.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 27

Messier 81
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes

Explanation: One of the brightest galaxies in planet Earth's sky is
similar in size to our Milky Way Galaxy: big, beautiful Messier 81.
Also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's galaxy for its 18th century
discoverer, this grand spiral can be found toward the northern
constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. The sharp, detailed
telescopic view reveals M81's bright yellow nucleus, blue spiral arms,
pinkish starforming regions, and sweeping cosmic dust lanes. But some
dust lanes actually run through the galactic disk (left of center),
contrary to other prominent spiral features. The errant dust lanes may
be the lingering result of a close encounter between M81 and the nearby
galaxy M82 lurking outside of this frame. Scrutiny of variable stars in
M81 has yielded a well-determined distance for an external galaxy --
11.8 million light-years.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 28

Lunar Dust and Duct Tape
Image Credit: Apollo 17, NASA

Explanation: Why is the Moon so dusty? On Earth, rocks are weathered by
wind and water, creating soil and sand. On the Moon, eons of constant
micrometeorite bombardment have blasted away at the rocky surface
creating a layer of powdery lunar soil or regolith. For the Apollo
astronauts and their equipment, the pervasive, fine, gritty dust was
definitely a problem
. On the lunar surface in December 1972, Apollo 17 astronauts Harrison
Schmitt and Eugene Cernan needed to repair one of their rover's fenders
in an effort to keep the rooster tails of dust away from themselves and
their gear. This picture reveals the wheel and fender of their dust
covered rover along with the ingenious application of spare maps,
clamps, and a grey strip of "duct tape".

Northern Hemisphere Alert : March 29 Partial Solar Eclipse Tomorrow's
picture: pixels in space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 March 29

Stereo Helene
Image Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, ISS, JPL, ESA, NASA; Stereo Image
by Roberto Beltramini

Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and float next to Helene,
small, icy moon of Saturn. Appropriately named, Helene is a Trojan
moon, so called because it orbits at a Lagrange point. A Lagrange point
is a gravitationally stable position near two massive bodies, in this
case Saturn and larger moon Dione. In fact, irregularly shaped ( about
36 by 32 by 30 kilometers) Helene orbits at Dione's leading Lagrange
point while brotherly ice moon Polydeuces follows at Dione's trailing
Lagrange point. The sharp stereo anaglyph was constructed from two
Cassini images captured during a close flyby in 2011. It shows part of
the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Helene mottled with craters and
gully-like features.

Tomorrow's picture: Ringed Jupiter
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 March 30
A a cloudy sky appears with an overall pink - red hue. The Sun appears
partially eclipsed over a slanting hill. A person on the hill has their
arms raised and appears to be holding up the partially eclipsed Sun.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Partial Solar Eclipse over Iceland
Image Credit & Copyright: Wioleta Gorecka

Explanation: What if the Sun and Moon rose together? That happened
yesterday over some northern parts of planet Earth as a partial solar
eclipse occurred shortly after sunrise. Regions that experienced the
Moon blocking part of the Sun included northeastern parts of North
America and northwestern parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. The
featured image was captured yesterday over the Gr+íbr+|k volcanic crater
in Iceland where much of the Sun became momentarily hidden behind the
Moon. The image was taken through a cloudy sky but so well planned that
the photographer's friend appeared to be pulling the Sun out from
behind the Moon. No part of the Earth experienced a total solar eclipse
this time. In the distant past, some of humanity was so surprised when
an eclipse occurred that ongoing battles suddenly stopped. Today,
eclipses are not a surprise and are predicted with an accuracy of
seconds.

Growing Gallery: Partial Solar Eclipse of 2025 March
Tomorrow's picture: inside out solar system
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 March 31

Parker: The Solar System from Near the Sun
Video Credit: NASA, JHUAPL, Naval Research Lab, Parker Solar Probe;
h/t: Richard Petarius III;
Music: Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 by N. Rimsky-Korsakov;
Source: Musopen; Performance: Czech National Symphony Orchestra (via
Musopen); Music Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Explanation: If you watch long enough, a comet will appear. Before
then, you will see our Solar System from inside the orbit of Mercury as
recorded by NASA's Parker Solar Probe looping around the Sun. The video
captures coronal streamers into the solar wind, a small Coronal Mass
Ejection, and planets including, in order of appearance, Mercury,
Venus, Saturn, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. Between the emergence of Earth
and Mars, Comet Tempel 1 appears with a distinctive tail. The
continuous fleeting streaks are high energy particles from the Sun
impacting Parker's sideways looking camera. The featured time-lapse
video was taken last year during Encounter 21, Parker's 21st close
approach to the Sun. Studying data and images from Parker are
delivering a better understanding of the dynamic Sun's effects on
Earth's space weather as well as humanity's power grids, spacecraft,
and space-faring astronauts.

Growing Gallery: Partial Solar Eclipse of 2025 March
Tomorrow's picture: yes, flocculent
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 1

A Double Sunrise from a Partial Eclipse
Video Credit & Copyright: Jason Kurth; Music: House of the Rising Sun
(Sebastia McQueen via SoundCloud)

Explanation: Can the Sun appear to rise twice at the same time? This
was just the case a few days ago from Les Escoumins, Quebec, Canada as
our Solar System's bright central orb rose just as it was being
partially eclipsed by the Moon. The featured video shows this unusual
double-sunrise in real time and being reflected by the St. Lawrence
River. Soon after the initial two spots of light appear over distant
clouds, what appears to be bright horns become visible -- which are
really just parts of the Sun not being eclipsed. Soon, the entire
eclipsed Sun is visible above the horizon. In all, this broken sunrise
took less than two minutes during a partial eclipse that lasted many
times longer. Although the Moon circles the Earth once a month
(moon-th), it does not always eclipse the Sun because its tilted orbit
usually takes it above or below.

Gallery: Partial Solar Eclipse of 2025 March
Tomorrow's picture: jupiter red
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 April 2
The featured image shows Jupiter in infrared light as captured by the
James Webb Space Telescope. Visible are clouds, the Great Red Spot --
appearing light in color -- and a prominent ring around the giant
planet. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Jupiter and Ring in Infrared from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Processing & License: Judy Schmidt

Explanation: Why does Jupiter have rings? Jupiter's main ring was
discovered in 1979 by NASA's passing Voyager 1 spacecraft, but its
origin was then a mystery. Data from NASA's Galileo spacecraft that
orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003, however, confirmed the hypothesis
that this ring was created by meteoroid impacts on small nearby moons.
As a small meteoroid strikes tiny Metis, for example, it will bore into
the moon, vaporize, and explode dirt and dust off into a Jovian orbit.
The featured image of Jupiter in infrared light by the James Webb Space
Telescope shows not only Jupiter and its clouds, but this ring as well.
Jupiter's Great Red Spot (GRS) -- in comparatively light color on the
right, Jupiter's large moon Europa -- in the center of diffraction
spikes on the left, and Europa's shadow -- next to the GRS -- are also
visible. Several features in the image are not yet well understood,
including the seemingly separated cloud layer on Jupiter's right limb.

Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday?
(post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 April 3

The Da Vinci Glow
Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer

Explanation: A 26 hour old Moon poses behind the craggy outline of the
Italian Dolomites in this twilight mountain and skyscape. The one
second long exposure was captured near moonset on March 30. And while
only a a sliver of its sunlit surface is visible, most of the Moon's
disk can be seen by earthshine as light reflected from a bright planet
Earth illuminates the lunar nearside. Also known as the Moon's ashen
glow, a description of earthshine in terms of sunlight reflected by
Earth's oceans illuminating the Moon's dark surface was written over
500 years ago by Leonardo da Vinci. Of course earthshine is just the
most familiar example of planetshine, the faint illumination of the
dark portion of a moon by light reflected from its planet.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 4

Hickson 44 in Leo
Image Credit & Copyright: Jiang Wu

Explanation: Scanning the skies for galaxies, Canadian astronomer Paul
Hickson and colleagues identified some 100 compact groups of galaxies,
now appropriately called Hickson Compact Groups. The four prominent
galaxies seen in this intriguing telescopic skyscape are one such
group, Hickson 44. The galaxy group is about 100 million light-years
distant, far beyond the spiky foreground Milky Way stars, toward the
constellation Leo. The two spiral galaxies in the center of the image
are edge-on NGC 3190 with its distinctive, warped dust lanes, and
S-shaped NGC 3187. Along with the bright elliptical, NGC 3193 (above
and left) they are also known as Arp 316. The spiral toward the lower
right corner is NGC 3185, the 4th member of the Hickson group. Like
other galaxies in Hickson groups, these show signs of distortion and
enhanced star formation, evidence of a gravitational tug of war that
will eventually result in galaxy mergers on a cosmic timescale. The
merger process is now understood to be a normal part of the evolution
of galaxies, including our own Milky Way. For scale, NGC 3190 is about
75,000 light-years across at the estimated distance of Hickson 44.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 April 5

The Gargoyles' Eclipse
Image Credit & Copyright: Bertrand Kulik

Explanation: In dramatic silhouette against a cloudy daytime sky over
Paris, France, gargoyles cast their monstrous gaze outward from the
west facade of Notre Dame Cathedral. Taken on March 29, this telephoto
snapshot also captures the dramatic silhouette of a New Moon against
the bright solar disk in a partial solar eclipse. Happening high in
Parisian skies, the partial eclipse was close to its maximum phase of
about 23 percent. Occurring near the end of the first eclipse season of
2025, this partial solar eclipse followed the total eclipse of the Full
Moon on March 13/14. The upcoming second eclipse season of 2025 will
see a total lunar eclipse on September 7/8 and partial solar eclipse on
September 21. The partial solar eclipse will be seen only from
locations in planet Earth's southern hemisphere.

Tomorrow's picture: moonquakes
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 6
An astronaut is seen standing on the Moon next to an instrument with
the lunar lander several meters in the distance. The dark of deep space
covers the top of the frame. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Moonquakes Surprisingly Common
Image Credit: NASA, Apollo 11 Crew

Explanation: Why are there so many moonquakes? Analyses of seismometers
left on the moon during the Apollo moon landings reveal a surprising
number of moonquakes occurring within 100 kilometers of the surface. In
fact, 62 moonquakes were detected in data recorded between 1972 and
1977. Many of these moonquakes are not only strong enough to move
furniture in a lunar apartment, but the stiff rock of the moon
continues to vibrate for many minutes, significantly longer than the
softer rock earthquakes on Earth. The cause of the moonquakes remains
unknown, but a leading hypothesis include tidal gravity from -- and
relative heating by -- our Earth. Regardless of the source, future moon
dwellings need to be built to withstand the frequent shakings. Pictured
here, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin stands beside a recently deployed
lunar seismometer, looking back toward the lunar landing module.

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: yes, flocculent
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 April 7
A bright spiral galaxy fills the image with blue spiral arms laced with
red-brown dust. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

NGC 4414: A Flocculent Spiral Galaxy
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, O. Graur, S. W. Jha, A. Filippenko

Explanation: How much mass do flocculent spirals hide? The featured
image of flocculent spiral galaxy NGC 4414 was taken with the Hubble
Space Telescope to help answer this question. Flocculent spirals --
galaxies without well-defined spiral arms -- are a quite common form of
galaxy, and NGC 4414 is one of the closest. Stars and gas near the
visible edge of spiral galaxies orbit the center so fast that the
gravity from a large amount of unseen dark matter must be present to
hold them together. Understanding the matter and dark matter
distribution of NGC 4414 helps humanity calibrate the rest of the
galaxy and, by deduction, flocculent spirals in general. Further,
calibrating the distance to NGC 4414 helps humanity calibrate the
cosmological distance scale of the entire visible universe.

Tomorrow's picture: Moon sisters
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 8
A dark night sky is shown with clouds on the left. Just above center in
blue is the Pleiades star cluster. Just below the Pleiades is a
crescent moon, but bright enough so that you can see not only the
brightly lit crescent but, more faintly, the rest of the Moon. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Moon Visits Sister Stars
Image Credit: Cayetana Saiz

Explanation: Sometimes, the Moon visits the Pleiades. Technically, this
means that the orbit of our Moon takes it directly in front of the
famous Pleiades star cluster, which is far in the distance. The
technical term for the event is an occultation, and the Moon is famous
for its rare occultations of all planets and several well-known bright
stars. The Moon's tilted and precessing orbit makes its occultations of
the Seven Sisters star cluster bunchy, with the current epoch starting
in 2023 continuing monthly until 2029. After that, though, the next
occultation won't occur until 2042. Taken from Cantabria, Spain on
April 1, the featured image is a composite where previous exposures of
the Pleiades from the same camera and location were digitally added to
the last image to bring up the star cluster's iconic blue glow.

Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: cosmic jets
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 9
A dark starfield is dominated by a red cone-like nebula with its base
on the bottom right and extending diagonally through the image. At the
peak of the cone toward the upper left is a background spiral galaxy.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

HH 49: Interstellar Jet from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST

Explanation: What's at the tip of this interstellar jet? First let's
consider the jet: it is being expelled by a star system just forming
and is cataloged as Herbig-Haro 49 (HH 49). The star system expelling
this jet is not visible -- it is off to the lower right. The complex
conical structure featured in this infrared image by the James Webb
Space Telescope also includes another jet cataloged as HH 50. The fast
jet particles impact the surrounding interstellar gas and form shock
waves that glow prominently in infrared light -- shown here as
reddish-brown ridges. This JWST image also resolved the mystery of the
unusual object at HH 49's tip: it is a spiral galaxy far in the
distance. The blue center is therefore not one star but many, and the
surrounding circular rings are actually spiral arms.

Jump Around the Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 10

38 Hours with the M81 Group
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Yang K.

Explanation: From a garden on planet Earth, 38 hours of exposure with a
camera and small telescope produced this cosmic photo of the M81 galaxy
group. In fact, the group's dominant galaxy M81 is near the center of
the frame sporting grand spiral arms and a bright yellow core. Also
known as Bode's galaxy, M81 itself spans some 100,000 light-years. Near
the top is cigar-shaped irregular galaxy M82. The pair have been locked
in gravitational combat for a billion years. Gravity from each galaxy
has profoundly affected the other during a series of cosmic close
encounters. Their last go-round lasted about 100 million years and
likely raised density waves rippling around M81, resulting in massive
star forming regions arrayed along M81's spiral arms. M82 was left with
violent star forming regions too, and colliding gas clouds so energetic
that the galaxy glows in X-rays. In the next few billion years, their
continuing gravitational encounters will result in a merger, and a
single galaxy will remain. Another group member, NGC 3077 is below and
left of the large spiral M81. Far far away, about 12 million
light-years distant the M81 group galaxies are seen toward the northern
constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). But in the closer foreground
the wide-field image is filled with integrated flux nebulae whose
faint, dusty interstellar clouds reflect starlight above the plane of
our own Milky Way galaxy.

Tomorrow's picture: a matinee
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 11

The ISS Meets Venus
Image Credit & Copyright: A.J. Smadi

Explanation: Made with a telescope shaded from bright sunlight by an
umbrella, on April 5 a well-planned video captured a crescent Venus
shining in clear daytime skies from Shoreline, Washington, USA at
11:57AM Pacific Time. It also caught the International Space Station in
this single video frame. In close conjunction with the bright planet,
the faint outline of the orbital outpost seen at a range of about 400
kilometers appears to be similar in size to the slender planetary
crescent. Of course the ISS is much smaller than Venus. Now appearing
as planet Earth's brilliant morning star and climbing above the eastern
horizon in predawn skies, inner planet Venus was nearly 45 million
kilometers from Shoreline.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 12

Moon Near the Edge
Image Credit & Copyright: Jordi Coy

Explanation: Most of us watch the Moon at night. But the Moon spends
nearly as many daylight hours above our horizon, though in bright
daytime skies the lunar disk looks pale and can be a little harder to
see. Of course in daytime skies the Moon also appears to cycle through
its phases, shining by reflected sunlight as it orbits our fair planet.
For daytime moonwatchers, the Moon is probably easier to spot when the
visible sunlit portion of the lunar disk is large and waxing following
first quarter or waning approaching its third quarter phase. And though
it might look unusual, a daytime moon is often seen even in urban
skies. Captured here in a telephoto snapshot taken on March 12, a
waxing daytime Moon is aligned near the edge of a popular observation
deck that overlooks New York City's borough of Manahattan.

Tomorrow's picture: a hole in Mars
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 13
A brown background is shown covered with a gray topping that has many
holes. On the upper right, there is a deep hole in the brown
background. In this hole is more gray topping. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

An Unusual Hole in Mars
Image Credit: NASA, MRO, HiRISE, JPL, U. Arizona

Explanation: What created this unusual hole in Mars? Actually, there
are numerous holes pictured in this Swiss cheese-like landscape, with
all-but-one of them showing a dusty, dark, Martian terrain beneath
evaporating, light, carbon dioxide ice. The most unusual hole is on the
upper right, spans about 100 meters, and seems to punch through to a
lower level. Why this hole exists and why it is surrounded by a
circular crater remains a topic of speculation, although a leading
hypothesis is that it was created by a meteor impact. Holes such as
this are of particular interest because they might be portals to lower
levels that extend into expansive underground caves. If so, these
naturally occurring tunnels are relatively protected from the harsh
surface of Mars, making them relatively good candidates to contain
Martian life. These pits are therefore also prime targets for possible
future spacecraft, robots, and even human interplanetary explorers.

Tomorrow's picture: radio center
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 14
The featured image shows the very center of our Milky Way Galaxy as
resolved by the MeerKAT array in radio light. Many supernova remnants
and unusual filaments are visible. At the upper right is an inset image
of a small region taken in infrared by JWST. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

The Galactic Center in Radio from MeerKAT
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, SARAO, S. Crowe (UVA), J. Bally
(CU), R. Fedriani (IAA-CSIC), I. Heywood (Oxford)

Explanation: What's happening at the center of our galaxy? It's hard to
tell with optical telescopes since visible light is blocked by
intervening interstellar dust. In other bands of light, though, such as
radio, the galactic center can be imaged and shows itself to be quite
an interesting and active place. The featured picture shows an image of
our Milky Way's center by the MeerKAT array of 64 radio dishes in South
Africa. Spanning four times the angular size of the Moon (2 degrees),
the image is impressively vast, deep, and detailed. Many known sources
are shown in clear detail, including many with a prefix of Sgr, since
the galactic center is in the direction of the constellation
Sagittarius. In our galaxy's center lies Sgr A, found here in the image
center, which houses the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole.
Other sources in the image are not as well understood, including the
Arc, just to the left of Sgr A, and numerous filamentary threads. The
inset image shows a small patch recently imaged in infrared light with
the James Webb Space Telescope to investigate the effects of magnetic
fields on star formation.

Open Science: Browse 3,600+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
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Tomorrow's picture: star cylinder
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 15
A starfield is dominated by a multi-colored figure 8 in the middle,
titled on a diagonal. The outsides of the nebula appear light colored,
while the inside shows complex structure tinted red and purple. Please
see the explanation for more detailed information.

Planetary Nebula NGC 1514 from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, M. E. Ressler (JPL) et al.; Processing:
Judy Schmidt

Explanation: What happens when a star runs out of nuclear fuel? For
stars like our Sun, the center condenses into a white dwarf while the
outer atmosphere is expelled into space to appear as a planetary
nebula. The expelled outer atmosphere of planetary nebula NGC 1514
appears to be a jumble of bubbles -- when seen in visible light. But
the view from the James Webb Space Telescope in infrared, as featured
here, confirms a different story: in this light the nebula shows a
distinct hourglass shape, which is interpreted as a cylinder seen along
a diagonal. If you look closely at the center of the nebula, you can
also see a bright central star that is part of a binary system. More
observations might better reveal how this nebula is evolving and how
the central stars are working together to produce the interesting
cylinder and bubbles observed.

Jump Around the Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: in a cat's eye
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 16
A dark starfield is dominated by a green nebula with intricate
filaments all around. At the center is a bright glow surrounding a
central star. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Halo of the Cat's Eye
Image Credit & Copyright: Taavi Niittee (T++rva Astronomy Club)

Explanation: What created the unusual halo around the Cat's Eye Nebula?
No one is sure. What is sure is that the Cat's Eye Nebula (NGC 6543) is
one of the best known planetary nebulae on the sky. Although haunting
symmetries are seen in the bright central region, this image was taken
to feature its intricately structured outer halo, which spans over
three light-years across. Planetary nebulae have long been appreciated
as a final phase in the life of a Sun-like star. Only recently however,
have some planetaries been found to have expansive halos, likely formed
from material shrugged off during earlier puzzling episodes in the
star's evolution. While the planetary nebula phase is thought to last
for around 10,000 years, astronomers estimate the age of the outer
filamentary portions of the Cat's Eye Nebula's halo to be 50,000 to
90,000 years.

Tomorrow's picture: star cylinder
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 17

Virgo Cluster Galaxies
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Adibi

Explanation: Galaxies of the Virgo Cluster are scattered across this
nearly 4 degree wide telescopic field of view. About 50 million
light-years distant, the Virgo Cluster is the closest large galaxy
cluster to our own local galaxy group. Prominent here are Virgo's
bright elliptical galaxies from the Messier catalog, M87 at bottom
left, and M86 and M84 near center right. M86 and M84 are recognized as
part of Markarian's Chain, the visually striking line-up of galaxies on
the that runs through the upper portion of this frame. Near the middle
of the chain lies an intriguing interacting pair of galaxies, NGC 4438
and NGC 4435, known to some as Markarian's Eyes. Still, giant
elliptical galaxy M87 dominates the Virgo cluster. It's the home of a
super massive black hole, the first black hole ever imaged by planet
Earth's Event Horizon Telescope.

Tomorrow's picture: comet in northern spring
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 April 18

Comet C/2025 F2 SWAN
Image Credit & Copyright: Dan Bartlett

Explanation: In late March, the comet now designated C/2025 F2 SWAN was
found independently by citizen scientists Vladimir Bezugly, Michael
Mattiazzo, and Rob Matson while examining publicly available image data
from the Solar Wind ANisotropies (SWAN) camera on the sun-staring SOHO
spacecraft. Comet SWAN's coma, its greenish color a signature of
diatomic carbon molecules fluorescing in sunlight, is at lower left in
this telescopic image. SWAN's faint ion tail extends nearly two degrees
toward the upper right across the field of view. The interplanetary
scene was captured in clear but moonlit skies from June Lake,
California on April 14. Seen against background of stars toward the
constellation Andromeda, the comet was then some 10 light-minutes from
our fair planet. Now a target for binoculars and small telescopes in
northern hemisphere morning skies this comet SWAN is headed for a
perihelion, its closest approach to the Sun, on May 1. That will bring
this visitor from the distant Oort cloud almost as close to the Sun as
the orbit of inner planet Mercury.

Tomorrow's picture: interplanetary post-modernism
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 19

Painting with Jupiter
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS; Processing: Rick Lundh

Explanation: In digital brush strokes, Jupiter's signature atmospheric
bands and vortices were used to form this interplanetary
post-impressionist work of art. The creative image from citizen
scientist Rick Lundh uses data from the Juno spacecraft's JunoCam. To
paint on the digital canvas, a JunoCam image with contrasting light and
dark tones was chosen for processing and an oil-painting software
filter applied. The image data was captured during perijove 10. That
was Juno's December 16, 2017 close encounter with the solar system's
ruling gas giant. At the time the spacecraft was cruising about 13,000
kilometers above northern Jovian cloud tops. Now in an extended
mission, Juno has explored Jupiter and its moons since entering orbit
around Jupiter in July of 2016.

Tomorrow's picture: sky hunter
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 April 20
A complex nebula fills the frame that is brightly colored, with red
being prominent in the image center and blue being most prominent
elsewhere. Stars also dot the image. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

The Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared
Image Credit & Copyright: Infrared: NASA, Spitzer Space Telescope;
Visible: Oliver Czernetz, Siding Spring Obs.

Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion is a colorful place. Visible to
the unaided eye, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation
of Orion. Long exposure, multi-wavelength images like this, however,
show the Orion Nebula to be a busy neighborhood of young stars, hot
gas, and dark dust. This digital composite features not only three
colors of visible light but four colors of infrared light taken by
NASA's orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope as well. The power behind much
of the Orion Nebula (M42) is the Trapezium - four of the brightest
stars in the nebula. Many of the filamentary structures visible are
actually shock waves - fronts where fast moving material encounters
slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is
located about 1500 light years away in the same spiral arm of our
Galaxy as the Sun.

Tomorrow's picture: galaxy-sized telescope
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 21
What looks like a single spiral galaxy is shown with a white center
surrounded by inner blue arms and outer red arms. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Galaxy Lenses Galaxy from Webb
Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, G. Mahler

Explanation: Is this one galaxy or two? Although it looks like one, the
answer is two. One path to this happening is when a small galaxy
collides with a larger galaxy and ends up in the center. But in the
featured image, something more rare is going on. Here, the central
light-colored elliptical galaxy is much closer than the blue and
red-colored spiral galaxy that surrounds it. This can happen when near
and far galaxies are exactly aligned, causing the gravity of the near
galaxy to pull the light from the far galaxy around it in an effect
called gravitational lensing. The featured galaxy double was taken by
the Webb Space Telescope and shows a complete Einstein ring, with great
detail visible for both galaxies. Galaxy lenses like this can reveal
new information about the mass distribution of the foreground lens and
the light distribution of the background source.

Tomorrow's picture: terminator moon
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 23
A skyscape is shown over a rocky landscape. In the starry sky are the
central band of our Milky Way Galaxy on the left, a meteor trail on the
right, the dim band of zodiacal light in the center, and the
photographer holding a light just below the center. The path of the
light is shown as a bright streak in the bottom part of the frame.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

An Almost Everything Sky
Image Credit & Copyright: Koen van Barneveld

Explanation: This surprising sky has almost everything. First, slanting
down from the upper left and far in the distance is the central band of
our Milky Way Galaxy. More modestly, slanting down from the upper right
and high in Earth's atmosphere is a bright meteor. The dim band of
light across the central diagonal is zodiacal light: sunlight reflected
from dust in the inner Solar System. The green glow on the far right is
aurora high in Earth's atmosphere. The bright zigzagging bright line
near the bottom is just a light that was held by the scene-planning
astrophotographer. This "almost everything" sky was captured over rocks
on Castle Hill, New Zealand late last month. The featured finished
frame is a combination of 10 exposures all taken with the same camera
and from the same location. But what about the astrophotographer
himself? He's pictured too -- can you find him?

Jigsaw Fun: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 24

NGC 6164: A Dragon's Egg
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Stern

Explanation: Beautiful emission nebula NGC 6164 was created by a rare,
hot, luminous O-type star, some 40 times as massive as the Sun. Seen at
the center of the cosmic cloud, the star is a mere 3 to 4 million years
old. In another three to four million years the massive star will end
its life in a supernova explosion. Spanning around 4 light-years, the
nebula itself has a bipolar symmetry. That makes it similar in
appearance to more common and familiar planetary nebulae - the gaseous
shrouds surrounding dying sun-like stars. Also like many planetary
nebulae, NGC 6164 has been found to have an extensive, faint halo,
revealed in this deep image of the region. Expanding into the
surrounding interstellar medium, the material in the halo is likely
from an earlier active phase of the O star. This gorgeous telescopic
view is a composite of extensive narrow-band image data, highlighting
glowing atomic hydrogen gas in red and oxygen in greenish hues, with
broad-band data for the surrounding starfield. Also known as the
Dragon's Egg nebula, NGC 6164 is 4,200 light-years away in the
right-angled southern constellation of Norma.

Tomorrow's picture: Lucy in the sky
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 25

Asteroid Donaldjohanson
Image Credit: Lucy/NASA/Goddard/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab

Explanation: Main belt asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson is about 8
kilometers long and 3.5 kilometers across. On April 20, this sharp
close-up of the asteroid was captured at a distance of about 1100
kilometers by the Lucy spacecraft's long range camera during its second
asteroid encounter. Named after American paleoanthropologist Donald
Johanson, discoverer of the Lucy hominid fossil, the elongated asteroid
was likely formed about 150 million years ago from a gentle collision
of two smaller bodies creating its characteristic contact binary shape.
Launched in October of 2021, the Lucy spacecraft will continue its
travels through the main asteroid belt in 2025, but is on its way to
explore Jupiter's swarm of Trojan asteroids. Lucy is expected to
encounter its first Trojan asteroid target, 3548 Eurybates, in August
2027.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
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2025 April 26

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 5335
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI

Explanation: This stunning portrait of NGC 5335 was captured by the
Hubble Space Telescope. Some 170,000 light-years across and over 200
million light-years away toward the constellation Virgo, the
magnificent spiral galaxy is seen face-on in Hubble's view. Within the
galactic disk, loose streamers of star forming regions lie along the
galaxy's flocculent spiral arms. But the most striking feature of NGC
5335 is its prominent central bar. Seen in about 30 percent of
galaxies, including our Milky Way, bar structures are understood to
channel material inward toward the galactic center, fueling star
formation. Of course, distant background galaxies are easy to spot,
scattered around the sharp Hubble image. Launched in 1990, Hubble is
now celebrating its 35th year exploring the cosmos from orbit around
planet Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: spirographs in space
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 April 27
A complex orange and purple nebula with a complex texture is shown in
front of a dark starfield. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

IC 418: The Spirograph Nebula
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA);
Acknowledgement: R. Sahai (JPL) et al.

Explanation: What is creating the strange texture of IC 418? Dubbed the
Spirograph Nebula for its resemblance to drawings from a cyclical
drawing tool, planetary nebula IC 418 shows patterns that are not well
understood. Perhaps they are related to chaotic winds from the variable
central star, which changes brightness unpredictably in just a few
hours. By contrast, evidence indicates that only a few million years
ago, IC 418 was probably a well-understood star similar to our Sun.
Only a few thousand years ago, IC 418 was probably a common red giant
star. Since running out of nuclear fuel, though, the outer envelope has
begun expanding outward leaving a hot remnant core destined to become a
white-dwarf star, visible in the image center. The light from the
central core excites surrounding atoms in the nebula causing them to
glow. IC 418 lies about 2000 light-years away and spans 0.3 light-years
across. This false-color image taken from the Hubble Space Telescope
reveals the unusual details.

Tomorrow's picture: interstellar tadpoles
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 April 28
A starfield is shown dominated by a purple and red nebula. Several dark
dust pillars are visible that appear not unlike tadpoles. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Gum 37 and the Southern Tadpoles
Image Credit & Copyright: Francis Bozon & Cecil Navick (AstroA. R. O.)

Explanation: This cosmic skyscape features glowing gas and dark dust
clouds alongside the young stars of NGC 3572. A beautiful emission
nebula and star cluster, it sails far southern skies within the
nautical constellation Carina. Stars from NGC 3572 are toward top
center in the telescopic frame that would measure about 100 light-years
across at the cluster's estimated distance of 9,000 light-years. The
visible interstellar gas and dust, shown in colors of the Hubble
palette, is part of the star cluster's natal molecular cloud, itself
cataloged as Gum 37. Dense streamers of material within the nebula,
eroded by stellar winds and radiation, clearly trail away from the
energetic young stars. They are likely sites of ongoing star formation
with shapes reminiscent of the Tadpoles of IC 410 -- better known to
northern skygazers. In the coming tens to hundreds of millions of
years, gas and stars in the cluster will be dispersed though, by
gravitational tides and by violent supernova explosions that end the
short lives of the massive cluster stars.

Tomorrow's picture: disappearing rings
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 29
The planet Saturn is shown many times down the composite image. The top
image was taken in 2020 and shows Saturn's rings very clearly, whereas
the bottom image was taken in 2025 and the rings are only visible as a
dark line across the planet. The six images show the progression year
by year. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Saturn's Rings Appear to Disappear
Image Credit & Copyright: Natan Fontes

Explanation: Where are Saturn's ears? Galileo is credited, in 1610, as
the first person to see Saturn's rings. Testing out Lipperhey's
recently co-invented telescope, Galileo did not know what they were and
so called them "ears". The mystery deepened in 1612, when Saturn's ears
mysteriously disappeared. Today we know exactly what happened: from the
perspective of the Earth, Saturn's rings had become too thin to see.
The same drama plays out every 15 years because Saturn, like Earth,
undergoes tilt-driven seasons. This means that as Saturn goes around
the Sun, its equator and rings can tilt noticeably toward the Sun and
inner Solar System, making them easily visible, but from other orbital
locations will appear almost not at all. The featured picture from
Brasilia, Brazil shows a modern version of this sequence: the top
ring-dominated image was taken in 2020, while the bottom ring-obscure
image taken earlier in 2025.

Make Saturn's Rings Musical: Play them like a harp!
Tomorrow's picture: smiling sky
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 April 30
The featured image shows a night sky over a distant hill. The night sky
has three bright objects: a crescent moon, the planet Venus (highest),
and the planet Saturn. Taken together, the moon and planets make a
happy face icon. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

A Happy Sky over Bufa Hill in Mexico
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Korona

Explanation: Sometimes, the sky itself seems to smile. A few days ago,
visible over much of the world, an unusual superposition of our Moon
with the planets Venus and Saturn created just such an iconic facial
expression. Specifically, a crescent Moon appeared to make a happy face
on the night sky when paired with seemingly nearby planets. Pictured is
the scene as it appeared over Zacatecas, M+¬xico, with distinctive Bufa
Hill in the foreground. On the far right and farthest in the distance
is the planet Saturn. Significantly closer and visible to Saturn's
upper left is Venus, the brightest planet on the sky. Just above the
central horizon is Earth's Moon in a waning crescent phase. To create
this gigantic icon, the crescent moon phase must be smiling in the
correct direction.

Dial-A-Moon: Find the Moon phase on your birthday this year
Tomorrow's picture: Mercury's messenger
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 May 1

MESSENGER's Last Day on Mercury
Image Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ. APL, Arizona State Univ., CIW

Explanation: The first to orbit inner planet Mercury, the MESSENGER
spacecraft came to rest on this region of Mercury's surface on April
30, 2015. Constructed from MESSENGER image and laser altimeter data,
the projected scene looks north over the northeastern rim of the broad,
lava filled Shakespeare basin. The large, 48 kilometer (30 mile) wide
crater Janacek is near the upper left edge. Terrain height is color
coded with red regions about 3 kilometers above blue ones. MESSENGER'S
final orbit was predicted to end near the center, with the spacecraft
impacting the surface at nearly 4 kilometers per second (over 8,700
miles per hour) and creating a new crater about 16 meters (52 feet) in
diameter. The impact on the far side of Mercury was not observed by
telescopes, but confirmed when no signal was detected from the
spacecraft given time to emerge from behind the planet. Launched in
2004, the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemisty and Ranging
spacecraft completed over 4,000 orbits after reaching the Solar
System's innermost planet in 2011.

Tomorrow's picture: burning hydrogen
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)