Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
APOD: 2024 December 31 Б The Twisted Disk of NGC 475331.12.2024
What do you think this is? HereБs a clue: it's bigger than a bread box. Much bigger. The answer is that pictured NGC 4753 is a twisted disk galaxy, where unusual dark dust filaments provide clues about its history.
APOD: 2024 December 30 Б M27: The Dumbbell Nebula
30.12.2024
Is this what will become of our Sun? Quite possibly. The first hint of our Sun's future was discovered inadvertently in 1764. At that time, Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets.
APOD: 2024 December 29 Б Methane Bubbles Frozen in Lake Baikal
29.12.2024
What are these bubbles frozen into Lake Baikal? Methane. Lake Baikal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Russia, is the world's largest (by volume), oldest, and deepest lake, containing over 20% of the world's fresh water.
A December Winter Night
28.12.2024
Orion seems to come up sideways, climbing over a distant mountain range in this deep skyscape. The wintry scene was captured from southern Poland on the northern hemisphere's long solstice night. Otherwise unseen nebulae hang in the sky, revealed by the camera modified to record red hydrogen-alpha light.
Planet Earth at Twilight
27.12.2024
No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet Earth. Instead, the shadow line or terminator is diffuse and shows the gradual transition to darkness we experience as twilight.
Grand Spiral NGC 5643
26.12.2024
Viewed face-on, grand spiral galaxy NGC 5643 has a festive appearance in this colorful cosmic portrait. Some 55 million light-years distant, the galaxy extends for over 100,000 light-years, seen within the boundaries of the southern constellation Lupus.
APOD: 2024 December 25 Б Diamond Dust Sky Eye
25.12.2024
Why is there a huge eye in the sky? Diamond dust. That is an informal term for small ice crystals that form in the air and flitter to the ground. Because these crystals...
APOD: 2024 December 24 Б Fox Fur, Cone, and Christmas Tree
24.12.2024
What do the following things have in common: a cone, the fur of a fox, and a Christmas tree? Answer: they all occur in the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros). Considered as a star...
APOD: 2024 December 23 Б Christmas Tree Aurora
23.12.2024
It was December and the sky lit up like a Christmas tree. Shimmering, the vivid green, blue, and purple auroral colors that formed the tree-like apparition were caused by high atmospheric oxygen and nitrogen reacting to a burst of incoming electrons.
APOD: 2024 December 22 Б The Local Fluff
22.12.2024
The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy, about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas called the interstellar medium (ISM). The ISM is not uniform and shows patchiness even near our Sun.
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