APOD

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

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2024-10-02 04:08:32

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
02 October 2024
**The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2410/LMC_Nowak_2160.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Ireneusz Nowak;
Text: Natalia Lewandowska
(SUNY Oswego)
It is the largest satellite galaxy of our home Milky Way Galaxy. If you live in the south, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is quite noticeable, spanning about 10 degrees across the night sky, which is 20 times larger than the full moon towards the southern constellation of the dolphinfish (Dorado). Being only about 160,000 light years away, many details of the LMC's structure can be seen, such as its central bar and its single spiral arm. The LMC harbors numerous stellar nurseries where new stars are being born, which appear in pink in the featured image. It is home to the Tarantula Nebula, the currently most active star forming region in the entire Local Group, a small collection of nearby galaxies dominated by the massive Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. Studies of the LMC and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by Henrietta Swan Leavitt led to the discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars that are used to measure distances across the nearby universe. Survey: Color Blindness and Astronomical Images
#APOD #LunarExploration #Space #Galactic #Astrophotography
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241002.html

2024-09-29 04:05:32

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
29 September 2024
**Seven Dusty Sisters**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/Pleiades_WiseAntonucci_5000.jpg
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Is this really the famous Pleiades star cluster? Known for its iconic blue stars, the Pleiades is shown here in infrared light where the surrounding dust outshines the stars. Here, three infrared colors have been mapped into visual colors (R=24, G=12, B=4.6 microns). The base images were taken by NASA's orbiting Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft. Cataloged as M45 and nicknamed the Seven Sisters, the Pleiades star cluster is by chance situated in a passing dust cloud. The light and winds from the massive Pleiades stars preferentially repel smaller dust particles, causing the dust to become stratified into filaments, as seen. The featured image spans about 20 light years at the distance of the Pleiades, which lies about 450 light years distant toward the constellation of the Bull (Taurus).
#APOD #Astrophysics #Astroenthusiast #Science #Astrodata
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240929.html

2024-09-11 04:05:19

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
11 September 2024
**A Night Sky over the Tatra Mountains**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/NightTatra_Rosadzinski_5028.jpg
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A natural border between Slovakia and Poland is the Tatra Mountains. A prominent destination for astrophotographers, the Tatras are the highest mountain range in the Carpathians. In the featured image taken in May, one can see the center of our Milky Way galaxy with two of its famous stellar nurseries, the Lagoon and Omega Nebula, just over the top of the Tatras. Stellar nurseries are full of ionized hydrogen, a fundamental component for the formation of Earth-abundant water. As a fundamental ingredient in all known forms of life, water is a crucial element in the Universe. Such water can be seen in the foreground in the form of the Bialka River. Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
#APOD #GalacticAdventures #Galactic #SpaceTravel #Cosmos
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240911.html

2024-09-10 04:05:17

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
10 September 2024
**Horsehead and Orion Nebulas**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/OrionOrange_Grelin_9371.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Antoine & Dalia Grelin
The dark Horsehead Nebula and the glowing Orion Nebula are contrasting cosmic vistas. Adrift 1,500 light-years away in one of the night sky's most recognizable constellations, they appear in opposite corners of the above stunning mosaic. The familiar Horsehead nebula appears as a dark cloud, a small silhouette notched against the long glow of hydrogen -- here shown in gold -- at the lower left. Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion's belt and is seen as the brightest star just below and to the left of the Horsehead. To the left of Alnitak is the Flame Nebula, with clouds of bright emission and dramatic dark dust lanes. The magnificent emission region, the Orion Nebula (aka M42), lies at the upper right. Immediately to its left is a prominent reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man. Pervasive tendrils of glowing hydrogen gas are easily traced throughout the region. Astrophysicists: Browse 3,500+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
#APOD #SpaceTechnology #Astrophysics #Galaxy #Exploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240910.html

2024-09-09 04:09:57

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

2024-09-08 04:09:56

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

2024-09-07 04:09:55

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
07 September 2024
**Small Moon Deimos**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/PIA11826.jpg
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Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos, named for the figures in Greek mythology Fear and Panic. Detailed surface views of smaller moon Deimos are shown in both these panels. The images were taken in 2009, by the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, NASA's long-lived interplanetary internet satellite. The outermost of the two Martian moons, Deimos is one of the smallest known moons in the Solar System, measuring only about 15 kilometers across. Both Martian moons were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall, an American astronomer working at the US Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. But their existence was postulated around 1610 by Johannes Kepler, the astronomer who derived the laws of planetary motion. In this case, Kepler's prediction was not based on scientific principles, but his writings and ideas were so influential that the two Martian moons are discussed in works of fiction such as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, written in 1726, over 150 years before their discovery.
#APOD #SpaceAdventures #Astrodata #Astrophotography #Astrophysics
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240907.html

2024-09-06 04:09:54

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
06 September 2024
**Ringed Ice Giant Neptune**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/NeptuneTriton_webb1059.png
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Ringed ice giant Neptune lies near the center of this sharp near-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope. The dim and distant world is the farthest planet from the Sun, about 30 times farther away than planet Earth. But in the stunning Webb view, the planet's dark and ghostly appearance is due to atmospheric methane that absorbs infrared light. High altitude clouds that reach above most of Neptune's absorbing methane easily stand out in the image though. Coated with frozen nitrogen, Neptune's largest moon Triton is brighter than Neptune in reflected sunlight, seen at the upper left sporting the Webb telescope's characteristic diffraction spikes. Including Triton, seven of Neptune's 14 known moons can be identified in the field of view. Neptune's faint rings are striking in this space-based planetary portrait. Details of the complex ring system are seen here for the first time since Neptune was visited by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in August 1989.
#APOD #PlanetaryScience #Planets #SpaceTechnology #Celestial
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240906.html

2024-09-05 00:04:03

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

2024-09-02 04:09:37

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
02 September 2024
**A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2409/SunTriangle_Vanoni_960.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Andrea Vanoni
Why is there a triangle hovering over the Sun? Although the shape is unusual, the type of structure is not: it is part of an evolving solar prominence. Looping magnetic fields on the Sun channel the flow of energetic particles, sometimes holding glowing gaseous structures aloft for months. A prominence glows brightly because it contains particularly hot, dense, or opaque solar plasma. The surprising triangular structure occurred last week. Larger than our Earth, the iconic prominence was imaged by several solar photographers and documented by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory to form and violently dissipate in about a day. The featured image was captured in a color of red light emitted strongly by hydrogen. Below, solar fibrils carpet the Sun's chromosphere, while the background sky is so faint in comparison that no stars are visible. Our Sun's surface has been quite active this year.
#APOD #Research #MilkyWay #Stargazing #StarFormation
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240902.html

2024-08-31 04:06:25

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

2024-08-30 04:06:23

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
30 August 2024
**Southern Moonscape**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/lorand_fenyes_hold_0016_Moretus_hegyvidek.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Lorand Fenyes
The Moon's south pole is toward the top left of this detailed telescopic moonscape. Captured on August 23, it looks across the rugged southern lunar highlands. The view's foreshortened perspective heightens the impression of a dense field of craters and makes the craters themselves appear more oval shaped close to the lunar limb. Prominent near center is 114 kilometer diameter crater Moretus. Moretus is young for a large lunar crater and features terraced inner walls and a 2.1 kilometer high, central peak, similar in appearance to the more northerly young crater Tycho. Mountains visible along the lunar limb at the top can rise about 6 kilometers or so above the surrounding terrain. Close to the lunar south pole, permanently shadowed crater floors with expected reservoirs of water-ice have made the rugged south polar region of the Moon a popular target for exploration.
#APOD #Stargazing #Astrophotography #RocketScience #RocketScience
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240830.html

2024-08-27 04:05:34

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
27 August 2024
**Moon Eclipses Saturn**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/MoonEclipsesSaturn_Sanz_2000.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Pau Montplet Sanz
What if Saturn disappeared? Sometimes, it does. It doesn't really go away, though, it just disappears from view when our Moon moves in front. Such a Saturnian eclipse, more formally called an occultation, was visible along a long swath of Earth -- from Peru, across the Atlantic Ocean, to Italy -- only a few days ago. The featured color image is a digital fusion of the clearest images captured during the event and rebalanced for color and relative brightness between the relatively dim Saturn and the comparatively bright Moon. Saturn and the comparative bright Moon. The exposures were all taken from Breda, Catalonia, Spain, just before occultation. Eclipses of Saturn by our Moon will occur each month for the rest of this year. Each time, though, the fleeting event will be visible only to those with clear skies -- and the right location on Earth. Gallery: Moon Eclipses Saturn in August 2024
#APOD #CosmosJourney #Astrophotography #RocketScience #PlanetaryScience
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240827.html

2024-08-26 04:08:20

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

2024-08-24 04:07:59

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

2024-08-23 04:09:42

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

2024-08-22 04:08:31

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

2024-08-21 04:07:27

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
21 August 2024
**Fermi's 12-year All-Sky Gamma-ray Map**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/12YearMap_Fermi_2160.jpg
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Forget X-ray vision — imagine what you could see with gamma-ray vision! The featured all-sky map shows what the universe looks like to NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Fermi sees light with energies about a billion times what the human eye can see, and the map combines 12 years of Fermi observations. The colors represent the brightness of the gamma-ray sources, with brighter sources appearing lighter in color. The prominent stripe across the middle is the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Most of the red and yellow dots scattered above and below the Milky Way’s plane are very distant galaxies, while most of those within the plane are nearby pulsars. The blue background that fills the image is the diffuse glow of gamma-rays from distant sources that are too dim to be detected individually. Some gamma-ray sources remain unidentified and topics of research — currently no one knows what they are.
#APOD #AstronautLife #Astrophysics #Research #AstronomyLovers
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240821.html

2024-08-20 04:06:23

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

2024-08-19 04:06:24

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

2024-08-18 04:06:19

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

2024-08-16 04:05:43

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
16 August 2024
**Meteor Borealis**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/JZ8_3744Dain.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Dain
A single exposure made with a camera pointed almost due north on August 12 recorded this bright Perseid meteor in the night sky west of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The meteor's incandescent trace is fleeting. It appears to cross the stars of the Big Dipper, famous northern asterism and celestial kitchen utensil, while shimmering curtains of aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, dance in the night. Doubling the wow factor for night skywatchers near the peak of this year's Perseid meteor shower auroral activity on planet Earth was enhanced by geomagnetic storms. The intense space weather was triggered by flares from an active Sun. Gallery: Perseid Meteor Shower 2024 and Aurorae
#APOD #Astroinformatics #PlanetaryExploration #CosmicWonders #LunarMission
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240816.html

2024-08-15 04:09:48

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

2024-08-13 04:09:31

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

2024-08-12 04:09:31

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
12 August 2024
**Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/PerseidsStonehenge_Dury_2780.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Josh Dury
What's happening in the sky above Stonehenge? A meteor shower: specifically, the Perseid meteor shower. A few nights ago, after the sky darkened, many images of meteors from this year's Perseids were captured separately and merged into a single frame. Although the meteors all traveled on straight paths, these paths appear slightly curved by the wide-angle lens of the capturing camera. The meteor streaks can all be traced back to a single point on the sky called the radiant, here just off the top of the frame in the constellation of Perseus. The same camera took a deep image of the background sky that brought up the central band of our Milky Way galaxy running nearly vertical through the image center. The featured image was taken from Wiltshire, England, being careful to include, at the bottom, the famous astronomical monument of Stonehenge. Although the Perseids peaked last night, some Perseid meteors should still be visible for a few more nights.
#APOD #Astrogeek #Astronomy #Astroeducation #SpaceExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240812.html

2024-08-11 04:09:34

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

2024-08-08 04:08:54

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

2024-08-07 04:08:09

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
07 August 2024
**Milky Way Behind Three Merlons**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/DolomitesSky_Lioce_4681.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Donato Lioce;
Text: Natalia Lewandowska
(SUNY Oswego)
To some, they look like battlements, here protecting us against the center of the Milky Way. The Three Merlons, also called the Three Peaks of Lavaredo, stand tall today because they are made of dense dolomite rock which has better resisted erosion than surrounding softer rock. They formed about 250 million years ago and so are comparable in age with one of the great extinctions of life on Earth. A leading hypothesis is that this great extinction was triggered by an asteroid about 10-km across, larger in size than Mount Everest, impacting the Earth. Humans have gazed up at the stars in the Milky Way and beyond for centuries, making these battlefield-like formations, based in the Sexten Dolomites, a popular place for current and ancient astronomers.
#APOD #Astrospace #Astrobiology #Astronomy #SpaceTravel
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240807.html

2024-08-06 04:08:05

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
06 August 2024
**Storm Cloud Over Texas**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/StormCloud_Rowe_960.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Laura Rowe (Used with permission)
What makes this storm cloud so colorful? First, the cloud itself is composed of millions of tiny droplets of water and ice. Its bottom is almost completely flat -- but this isn't unusual. Bottom flatness in clouds is generally caused by air temperature dropping as you go up, and that above a specific height, water-saturated air condenses out water droplets. The shape of the cloud middle is caused by a water-droplet-laden column of air being blown upward. Most unusual, though, are the orange and yellow colors. Both colors are caused by the cloud's water drops reflecting sunlight. The orange color in the cloud's middle and bottom sections are reflections of a nearly red sunset. In contrast, the yellow color of the cloud's top results from reflection of light from a not-yet-setting Sun, where some -- but less -- blue light is being scattered away. Appearing to float above the plains in Texas, the featured impressive image of a dynamic cumulonimbus cloud was captured in 2021 while investigating a tornado.
#APOD #Research #Astroengineer #Astrobiology #AstronomyClub
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240806.html

2024-08-03 04:08:00

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
03 August 2024
**Glory and Fog Bow**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2408/GloryFog1.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Cem Özkeser
On a road trip up Mount Uludağ in Bursa province, Turkey these motorcyclists found themselves above low clouds and fog in late June. With the bright Sun directly behind them, the view down the side of the great mountain revealed a beautiful, atmospheric glory and fog bow. Known to some as the heiligenschein or the Specter of the Brocken, a glory can also sometimes be seen from airplanes or even high buildings. It often appears to be a dark giant surrounded by a bright halo. Of course the dark giant is just the shadow of the observer (90MB video) cast opposite the Sun. The clouds and fog are composed of very small water droplets, smaller than rain drops, that refract and reflect sunlight to create the glory's colorful halo and this more extensive fog bow.
#APOD #Planetarium #SpaceResearch #Meteorology #CosmosJourney
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240803.html

2024-07-29 04:06:12

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

2024-07-28 04:06:10

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

2024-07-25 04:05:59

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 July 2024
**NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/NGC7023_LRGB_fin_sig.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Shepherd
These cosmic clouds have blossomed 1,300 light-years away in the fertile starfields of the constellation Cepheus. Called the Iris Nebula, NGC 7023 is not the only nebula to evoke the imagery of flowers. Still, this deep telescopic image shows off the Iris Nebula's range of colors and symmetries embedded in surrounding fields of interstellar dust. Within the Iris itself, dusty nebular material surrounds a hot, young star. The dominant color of the brighter reflection nebula is blue, characteristic of dust grains reflecting starlight. Central filaments of the reflection nebula glow with a faint reddish photoluminescence as some dust grains effectively convert the star's invisible ultraviolet radiation to visible red light. Infrared observations indicate that this nebula contains complex carbon molecules known as PAHs. The dusty blue petals of the Iris Nebula span about six light-years.
#APOD #SpaceResearch #SpaceExploration #Astroeducation #CosmosJourney
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240725.html

2024-07-23 04:06:49

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
23 July 2024
**The Crab Nebula from Visible to X-Ray**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/Crab_MultiChandra_4123.jpg
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What powers the Crab Nebula? A city-sized magnetized neutron star spinning around 30 times a second. Known as the Crab Pulsar, it is the bright spot in the center of the gaseous swirl at the nebula's core. About 10 light-years across, the spectacular picture of the Crab Nebula (M1) frames a swirling central disk and complex filaments of surrounding and expanding glowing gas. The picture combines visible light from the Hubble Space Telescope in red and blue with X-ray light from the Chandra X-ray Observatory shown in white, and diffuse X-ray emission detected by Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) in diffuse purple. The central pulsar powers the Crab Nebula's emission and expansion by slightly slowing its spin rate, which drives out a wind of energetic electrons. The featured image released today, the 25th Anniversary of the launch of NASA's flagship-class X-ray Observatory: Chandra. Many Discoveries: Chandra Celebrates 25th Anniversary
#APOD #SpaceTech #BlackHoles #Universe #SpaceResearch
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240723.html

2024-07-22 04:06:41

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

2024-07-21 04:06:39

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
21 July 2024
**King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2407/KingOfWings_Pinkston_7360.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Wayne Pinkston
(LightCrafter Photography)
This rock structure is not only surreal -- it's real. Perhaps the reason it's not more famous is that it is smaller than one might guess: the capstone rock overhangs only a few meters. Even so, the King of Wings outcrop, located in New Mexico, USA, is a fascinating example of an unusual type of rock structure called a hoodoo. Hoodoos may form when a layer of hard rock overlays a layer of eroding softer rock. Figuring out the details of incorporating this hoodoo into a night-sky photoshoot took over a year. Besides waiting for a suitably picturesque night behind a sky with few clouds, the foreground had to be artificially lit just right relative to the natural glow of the background. After much planning and waiting, the final shot, featured here, was taken in May 2016. Mimicking the horizontal bar, the background sky features the band of our Milky Way Galaxy stretching overhead.
#APOD #SpaceObservatory #RocketLaunch #Cosmological #Science
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240721.html

2024-07-18 04:05:07

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

2024-07-15 04:09:48

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

2024-07-13 04:09:45

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

2024-07-03 04:07:42

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

2024-07-02 04:07:17

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

2024-07-01 04:08:39

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

2024-06-28 04:06:55

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

2024-06-23 04:06:31

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

2024-06-20 04:05:47

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

2024-06-17 04:09:34

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
17 June 2024
**Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/SquidOu4_Linde_4010.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Alex Linde
Squids on Earth aren't this big. This mysterious squid-like cosmic cloud spans nearly three full moons on planet Earth's sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over 50 light-years across.
#APOD #SpaceMission #Astroengineering #SpaceDiscovery #SpaceExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240617.html

2024-06-15 04:05:52

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

2024-06-11 04:10:01

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
11 June 2024
**Colorful Stars and Clouds near Rho Ophiuchi**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/RhoAntares_Stocks_2560.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Craig Stocks
Why is the sky near Antares and Rho Ophiuchi so colorful, yet dusty? The colors result from a mixture of objects and processes. Fine dust -- illuminated by starlight -- produces blue reflection nebulae. Gaseous clouds whose atoms are excited by ultraviolet starlight produce reddish emission nebulae. Backlit dust clouds block starlight and so appear dark. Antares, a red supergiant and one of the brighter stars in the night sky, lights up the yellow-red clouds on the upper right of the featured image. The Rho Ophiuchi star system lies at the center of the blue reflection nebula on the left, while a different reflection nebula, IC 4605, lies just below and right of the image center. These star clouds are even more colorful than humans can see, emitting light across the electromagnetic spectrum. Open Science: Browse 3,400+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
#APOD #AstronautLife #BlackHoles #SpaceMissions #Stars
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240611.html

2024-06-08 04:06:08

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
08 June 2024
**Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2406/abell2744_jwst.png
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This deep field mosaicked image presents a stunning view of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 recorded by the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRCam. Also dubbed Pandora's Cluster, Abell 2744 itself appears to be a ponderous merger of three different massive galaxy clusters. It lies some 3.5 billion light-years away, toward the constellation Sculptor. Dominated by dark matter, the mega-cluster warps and distorts the fabric of spacetime, gravitationally lensing even more distant objects. Redder than the Pandora cluster galaxies many of the lensed sources are very distant galaxies in the early Universe, their lensed images stretched and distorted into arcs. Of course distinctive diffraction spikes mark foreground Milky Way stars. At the Pandora Cluster's estimated distance this cosmic box spans about 6 million light-years. But don't panic. You can explore the tantalizing region in a 2 minute video tour.
#APOD #PlanetaryScience #Astrodata #Universe #SpaceResearch
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240608.html

2024-05-23 04:09:03

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
23 May 2024
**Unraveling NGC 3169**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/N3169N3166Final.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Christophe Vergnes
Spiral galaxy NGC 3169 looks to be unraveling like a ball of cosmic yarn. It lies some 70 million light-years away, south of bright star Regulus toward the faint constellation Sextans. Wound up spiral arms are pulled out into sweeping tidal tails as NGC 3169 (left) and neighboring NGC 3166 interact gravitationally. Eventually the galaxies will merge into one, a common fate even for bright galaxies in the local universe. Drawn out stellar arcs and plumes are clear indications of the ongoing gravitational interactions across the deep and colorful galaxy group photo. The telescopic frame spans about 20 arc minutes or about 400,000 light-years at the group's estimated distance, and includes smaller, bluish NGC 3165 to the right. NGC 3169 is also known to shine across the spectrum from radio to X-rays, harboring an active galactic nucleus that is the site of a supermassive black hole.
#APOD #Astrospace #Astrochemistry #NASA #SpaceStation
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240523.html

2024-05-04 04:06:53

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
04 May 2024
**3 ATs**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/three_ats_beletsky.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky
Despite their resemblance to R2D2, these three are not the droids you're looking for. Instead, the enclosures house 1.8 meter Auxiliary Telescopes (ATs) at Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert region of Chile. The ATs are designed to be used for interferometry, a technique for achieving extremely high resolution observations, in concert with the observatory's 8 meter Very Large Telescope units. A total of four ATs are operational, each fitted with a transporter that moves the telescope along a track allowing different arrays with the large unit telescopes. To work as an interferometer, the light from each telescope is brought to a common focal point by a system of mirrors in underground tunnels. Above these three ATs, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are the far, far away satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way. In the clear and otherwise dark southern skies, planet Earth's greenish atmospheric airglow stretches faintly along the horizon.
#APOD #SpaceTech #SpaceIndustry #Astrophoto #SpaceWeather
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240504.html

2024-04-24 04:09:58

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
24 April 2024
**Dragon's Egg Bipolar Emission Nebula**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2404/DragonsEgg_Prangley_4688.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Rowan Prangley
How did a star form this beautiful nebula? In the middle of emission nebula NGC 6164 is an unusually massive star. The central star has been compared to an oyster's pearl and an egg protected by the mythical sky dragons of Ara. The star, visible in the center of the featured image and catalogued as HD 148937, is so hot that the ultraviolet light it emits heats up gas that surrounds it. That gas was likely thrown off from the star previously, possibly the result of a gravitational interaction with a looping stellar companion. Expelled material might have been channeled by the magnetic field of the massive star, in all creating the symmetric shape of the bipolar nebula. NGC 6164 spans about four light years and is located about 3,600 light years away toward the southern constellation Norma. New Mirror: APOD now available via WhatsApp
#APOD #Astrophysics #PlanetaryScience #LunarExploration #Astronauts
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240424.html

2024-04-13 04:07:14

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
13 April 2024
**Palm Tree Partial Eclipse**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2404/pinholepalm.png
Image Credit & Copyright: Lori Haffelt
Only those along the narrow track of the Moon's shadow on April 8 saw a total solar eclipse. But most of North America still saw a partial eclipse of the Sun. From Clearwater, Florida, USA this single snapshot captured multiple images of that more widely viewed celestial event without observing the Sun directly. In the shade of a palm tree, criss-crossing fronds are projecting recognizable eclipse images on the ground, pinhole camera style. In Clearwater the maximum eclipse phase was about 53 percent. Solar Eclipse Imagery: Notable Submissions to APOD
#APOD #Astronomy #PlanetaryExploration #Astronauts #Astrogeology
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240413.html

2024-04-12 04:06:03

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
12 April 2024
**Total Totality**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2404/image0tseKorona.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright: Daniel Korona
Baily's beads often appear at the boundaries of the total phase of an eclipse of the Sun. Pearls of sunlight still beaming through gaps in the rugged terrain along the lunar limb silhouette, their appearance is recorded in this dramatic timelapse composite. The series of images follows the Moon's edge from beginning through the end of totality during April 8's solar eclipse from Durango, Mexico. They also capture pinkish prominences of plasma arcing high above the edge of the active Sun. One of the first places in North America visited by the Moon's shadow on April 8, totality in Durango lasted about 3 minutes and 46 seconds. Solar Eclipse Imagery: Notable Submissions to APOD
#APOD #SpaceTravel #BlackHoleDiscovery #Astrobiology #PlanetaryExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240412.html

2024-04-05 04:09:00

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

2024-04-04 04:07:07

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

2024-02-25 05:06:50

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
25 February 2024
**A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2402/PhoenixAurora_Helgason_3130.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Hallgrimur P. Helgason;
Rollover Annotation:
Judy Schmidt
All of the other aurora watchers had gone home. By 3:30 am in Iceland, on a quiet September night, much of that night's auroras had died down. Suddenly, unexpectedly, a new burst of particles streamed down from space, lighting up the Earth's atmosphere once again. This time, surprisingly, pareidoliacally, the night lit up with an amazing shape reminiscent of a giant phoenix. With camera equipment at the ready, two quick sky images were taken, followed immediately by a third of the land. The mountain in the background is Helgafell, while the small foreground river is called Kaldá, both located about 30 kilometers north of Iceland's capital Reykjavík. Seasoned skywatchers will note that just above the mountain, toward the left, is the constellation of Orion, while the Pleiades star cluster is also visible just above the frame center. The 2016 aurora, which lasted only a minute and was soon gone forever -- would possibly be dismissed as a fanciful fable -- were it not captured in the featured, digitally-composed, image mosaic. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
#APOD #GalacticAdventures #Astrozone #BlackHoleDiscovery #GalaxyExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240225.html

2024-02-04 05:07:19

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
04 February 2024
**The Cone Nebula from Hubble**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2402/cone_hubbleschmidt_4048.jpg
*Image creditor details unavailable via API. Visit linked page below for full info.*
Stars are forming in the gigantic dust pillar called the Cone Nebula. Cones, pillars, and majestic flowing shapes abound in stellar nurseries where natal clouds of gas and dust are buffeted by energetic winds from newborn stars. The Cone Nebula, a well-known example, lies within the bright galactic star-forming region NGC 2264. The Cone was captured in unprecedented detail in this close-up composite of several observations from the Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope. While the Cone Nebula, about 2,500 light-years away in Monoceros, is around 7 light-years long, the region pictured here surrounding the cone's blunted head is a mere 2.5 light-years across. In our neck of the galaxy that distance is just over half way from our Sun to its nearest stellar neighbors in the Alpha Centauri star system. The massive star NGC 2264 IRS, seen by Hubble's infrared camera in 1997, is the likely source of the wind sculpting the Cone Nebula and lies off the top of the image. The Cone Nebula's reddish veil is produced by dust and glowing hydrogen gas.
#APOD #SpaceResearch #Cosmos #Astrotheory #PlanetaryExploration
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240204.html

2024-01-14 05:05:03

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

2023-11-01 04:06:35

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

2023-10-25 04:06:50

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

2023-09-22 04:11:57

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

2023-09-15 04:06:06

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

2023-09-11 04:08:46

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

2023-08-09 04:05:51

**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
09 August 2023
**Meteor Shower: Perseids from Perseus**
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2308/Perseids18_Horalek_1494.jpg
Image Credit & Copyright:
Petr Horálek /
Institute of Physics in Opava
This is a good week to see meteors. Comet dust will rain down on planet Earth, streaking through dark skies during peak nights of the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. The featured composite image was taken during the 2018 Perseids from the Poloniny Dark Sky Park in Slovakia. The dome of the observatory in the foreground is on the grounds of Kolonica Observatory. Although the comet dust particles travel parallel to each other, the resulting shower meteors clearly seem to radiate from a single point on the sky in the eponymous constellation Perseus. The radiant effect is due to perspective, as the parallel tracks appear to converge at a distance, like train tracks. The Perseid Meteor Shower is expected to reach its highest peak on Saturday after midnight. Since a crescent Moon will rise only very late that night, cloudless skies will be darker than usual, making a high number of faint meteors potentially visible this year.
#APOD #SpaceFacts #Astrotheory #SpaceTech #Galaxy
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230809.html

2023-06-20 04:05:18

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