|
Astronomy Picture Of the Day (APOD)
APOD: 2026 July 9 Б The Red Glow of the Cosmic Bat Nebula
9.07.2026
This Cosmic Bat wishes you a happy Summerween! This mid-year celebration of Halloween transcends hemispheres, even though summer in the Northern hemisphere is winter in the South. Contrary to its eery aura, the Cosmic Bat Nebula (LDN 43), not to be confused with the Bat Nebula (NGC 6995), is a vibrant birthplace for stars.
APOD: 2026 July 7 Б NGC 6188: Dragons of Ara
7.07.2026
Where can you find dragons fighting in the night sky? In the southern constellation of the Altar: Ara. The dragons are, of course, actually made of suggestively shaped gas and dust. The celestial home...
APOD: 2026 July 6 Б Dueling Bands over the Atacama Desert
6.07.2026
What are these two bands in the sky? The more commonly seen band is on the left and is the central band of our Milky Way galaxy. Our Sun orbits in the disk of this spiral galaxy so that from inside, it appears as a band of comparable brightness all the way around the sky.
APOD: 2026 July 5 Б Saturns Iapetus: Painted Moon
5.07.2026
What has happened to Saturn's moon Iapetus? Vast sections of this strange world are dark as coal, while others are as bright as snow. To help better understand this unusually tinted moon, in 2007 NASA directed the robotic Cassini spacecraft then orbiting Saturn to swoop within 2,000 kilometers.
APOD: 2026 July 4 Б Pathfinder on Mars
4.07.2026
On July 4th, 1997, using its own array of fireworks, a parachute, and a cocoon of airbags, the Mars Pathfinder spacecraft bounced like a giant beach ball at least 15 times before it came to rest on the surface of Mars at 10:07 AM Pacific Daylight Time.
APOD: 2026 July 3 Б Three Galaxies in Pavo
3.07.2026
Some 190 million light-years away, far beyond the bright stars and nebulae of the Milky Way, these three galaxies are drawn together by gravity in a mesmerizing cosmic dance. Clearly distorted by galactic-scale gravitational interactions, large spiral galaxies NGC6769 and NGC6770 are seen face-on, with luminous galactic disks scarred by obscuring interstellar dust lanes.
Sibling Supernova Remnants
2.07.2026
What happens when one of the stars in a binary goes supernova? This image combines visible (yellow), ultraviolet (purple) and infrared light (cyan, red and orange) to show two supernova remnants and their surrounding environment, about 6,000 light-years away. The younger one is the well-known Jellyfish Nebula in the center (mostly in yellow).
APOD: 2026 July 1 Б The Cotton Candy Clouds of Rho Ophiuchi
1.07.2026
Although they look like cotton candy, you cannot eat these clouds! Taken in Cádiz, Spain, today's image features the Rho Ophiuchi complex, a rich tapestry of young and old astronomical phenomena. This colorful cloud complex is a nearby star-forming region containing hundreds of young stellar objects, including protostars and T Tauri stars.
APOD: 2026 June 30 Б Unusually Smooth Sections of Asteroid Itokawa
30.06.2026
Why are parts of this asteroid's surface so smooth? The answer seems likely to do with the dynamics of an asteroid that is a loose pile of rubble rather than a solid rock.
APOD: 2026 June 29 Б M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
29.06.2026
Why is the Cigar Galaxy billowing red smoke? M82, as this starburst galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81. This doesn't fully explain the source of the red-glowing outwardly expanding gas and dust, however.
|
January February March April May June July |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||