Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
APOD: 2024 September 25 Б Comet A3 Through an Australian Sunrise25.09.2024
Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS is now visible in the early morning sky. Diving into the inner Solar System at an odd angle, this large dirty iceberg will pass its closest to the Sun -- between the orbits of Mercury and Venus -- in just two days.
APOD: 2024 September 24 Б NGC 6727: The Rampaging Baboon Nebula
24.09.2024
This dusty region is forming stars. Part of a sprawling molecular cloud complex that resembles, to some, a rampaging baboon, the region is a relatively close by 500 light-years away toward the constellation Corona Australis. That's about one third the distance of the more famous stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula.
APOD: 2024 September 23 Б Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS Approaches
23.09.2024
What will happen as this already bright comet approaches? Optimistic predictions have Comet C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanБATLAS) briefly becoming easily visible to the unaided eye -- although the future brightness of comets are notoriously hard to predict, and this comet may even break up in warming sunlight.
APOD: 2024 September 22 Б Chicagohenge: Equinox in an Aligned City
22.09.2024
Chicago, in a way, is like a modern Stonehenge. The way is east to west, and the time is today. Today, and every equinox, the Sun will set exactly to the west, everywhere on Earth.
Sunrise Shadows in the Sky
21.09.2024
The defining astronomical moment of this September's equinox is at 12:44 UTC on September 22, when the Sun crosses the celestial equator moving south in its yearly journey through planet Earth's sky.
A Hazy Harvest Moon
20.09.2024
For northern hemisphere dwellers, September's Full Moon was the Harvest Moon. On September 17/18 the sunlit lunar nearside passed into shadow, just grazing Earth's umbra, the planet's dark, central shadow cone, in a partial lunar eclipse.
The Dark Seahorse of Cepheus
19.09.2024
Spanning light-years, this suggestive shape known as the Seahorse Nebula floats in silhouette against a rich, luminous background of stars. Seen toward the royal northern constellation of Cepheus, the dusty, dark nebula is part of a Milky Way molecular cloud some 1,200 light-years distant.
APOD: 2024 September 18 Б The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
18.09.2024
New stars are born from the remnants of dead stars. The gaseous remnant of the gravitational collapse and subsequent death of a very massive star in our Milky Way created the G296.5+10.0 supernova remnant, of which the featured Mermaid Nebula is part.
APOD: 2024 September 17 Б Melotte 15 in the Heart Nebula
17.09.2024
Cosmic clouds form fantastic shapes in the central regions of emission nebula IC 1805. The clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star cluster, Melotte 15.
APOD: 2024 September 16 Б Mercurys Vivaldi Crater from BepiColombo
16.09.2024
Why does this large crater on Mercury have two rings and a smooth floor? No one is sure. The unusual feature called Vivaldi Crater spans 215 kilometers and was imaged again in great detail by ESA's and JAXA's robotic BepiColombo spacecraft on a flyby earlier this month.
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