Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 23 The Pencil Nebula Supernova Shock Wave Image Credit &Copyright: Helge Buesing Explanation: This supernova shock wave plows through interstellar space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour.Centered and moving upward in thesharply detailed color compositeits thin, bright, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a cosmic sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge-on.Discovered in the 1840s bySir John Herschel,the narrow-looking nebulais sometimes known as Herschel's Ray.Cataloged as NGC 2736, its pointed appearance suggests its modern popular name, the Pencil Nebula.The Pencil Nebulais about 800 light-years away.Nearly 5 light-years long it represents only a small part of theVela supernova remnant though.The enormous Vela remnant itselfis around 100 light-years in diameter, the expandingdebris cloud of a starthat was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago.Initially, the section of theshock wave seen as the Pencil nebula was movingat millions of kilometersper hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping upsurrounding interstellar material. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 22 A View Toward M106 Image Credit &Copyright: Kyunghoon Lim Explanation: Big, bright, beautiful spiral, Messier 106dominates this cosmic vista.The nearly two degree widetelescopicfield of view looks toward the well-trained constellationCanes Venatici, near the handle of the Big Dipper.Also known as NGC 4258, M106 is about 80,000 light-years across and23.5 million light-years away, the largest member of theCanesII galaxy group.For a far far away galaxy, the distance to M106 is well-knownin part because it can bedirectly measuredby tracking this galaxy's remarkable maser, or microwave laser emission.Very rare but naturally occurring, themaser emissionis produced by water molecules in molecular clouds orbiting itsactive galactic nucleus.Another prominent spiral galaxy on the scene, viewed nearlyedge-on,is NGC 4217 below and right of M106.The distance to NGC 4217 is much less well-known, estimatedto be about 60 million light-years, but the brightspikystars are in the foreground, well inside our own Milky Way galaxy. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry...

APOD: 2024 February 16 - Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 16 Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Image Credit &Copyright: Dan Bartlett` Explanation: Heading for its next perihelion passage on April 21,Comet 12P/Pons-Brooksis growing brighter.The greenish coma of this periodic Halley-type comethas become relatively easy to observe in small telescopes.But thebluish ion tailnow streaming from the active comet's coma and buffeted by the solar wind, is faint and difficult to follow.Still,in this imagestacked exposures made on the night of February 11reveal the fainter tail's detailed structures.The frame spans over two degrees across abackground of faint stars and background galaxiestoward the northern constellation Lacerta.Of courseComet 12P's April 21 perihelion passage will be onlytwo weeks after the April 8 total solar eclipse, puttingthe comet in planet Earth's sky along with atotally eclipsed Sun. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC,NASA Science Activation& Michigan...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 17 Meteor over the Bay of Naples Image Credit &Copyright: Wang Letian (Eyes at Night) Explanation: A cosmic dust grain plowing throughthe upper atmosphere much faster thana falling leafcreated this brilliantmeteor streak.In a serendipitous moment, the sublime night sky view wascaptured from the resort island of Capri, in the Bay of Naples,on the evening of February 8.Looking across the bay, the camera faces northeast towardthe lights of Naples and surrounding cities.Pointing toward the horizon, themeteor streakby chance ends above the silhouette of Mount Vesuvius.One of planet Earth's most famous volcanos, an eruption ofMount Vesuviusdestroyed the city of Pompeiiin 79 AD. Tomorrow's picture: nearly perfect <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC,NASA Science Activation& Michigan Tech. U.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 16 Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks Image Credit &Copyright: Dan Bartlett` Explanation: Heading for its next perihelion passage on April 21,Comet 12P/Pons-Brooksis growing brighter.The greenish coma of this periodic Halley-type comethas become relatively easy to observe in small telescopes.But thebluish ion tailnow streaming from the active comet's coma and buffeted by the solar wind, is faint and difficult to follow.Still,in this imagestacked exposures made on the night of February 11reveal the fainter tail's detailed structures.The frame spans over two degrees across abackground of faint stars and background galaxiestoward the northern constellation Lacerta.Of courseComet 12P's April 21 perihelion passage will be onlytwo weeks after the April 8 total solar eclipse, puttingthe comet in planet Earth's sky along with atotally eclipsed Sun. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC,NASA Science Activation& Michigan Tech. U.

APOD: 2024 February 15 - NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 15 NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe Image Credit &Copyright: Steve Crouch Explanation: Shiny NGC 253is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one ofthe dustiest. Some call it the Silver Coin Galaxy for its appearance in smalltelescopes, or just the Sculptor Galaxy for its location withinthe boundaries of the southern constellation Sculptor. Discovered in 1783 by mathematician and astronomerCaroline Herschel,the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years away.About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest member ofthe SculptorGroup of Galaxies, the nearest to our ownLocal Group ofGalaxies. In addition to its spiral dust lanes, tendrils of dust seem to berising from its galactic disklaced with young star clusters and star forming regions inthiscolorful galaxy portrait.The high dust content accompanies frantic star formation,earningNGC 253 the designation of astarburst galaxy.NGC 253 is also known to be a strong source of high-energyx-raysandgamma rays,likely due to massive black holes near the galaxy's center. Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space <| Archive| Submissions | Index|...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 15 NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe Image Credit &Copyright: Steve Crouch Explanation: Shiny NGC 253is one of the brightest spiral galaxies visible, and also one ofthe dustiest. Some call it the Silver Coin Galaxy for its appearance in smalltelescopes, or just the Sculptor Galaxy for its location withinthe boundaries of the southern constellation Sculptor. Discovered in 1783 by mathematician and astronomerCaroline Herschel,the dusty island universe lies a mere 10 million light-years away.About 70 thousand light-years across, NGC 253 is the largest member ofthe SculptorGroup of Galaxies, the nearest to our ownLocal Group ofGalaxies. In addition to its spiral dust lanes, tendrils of dust seem to berising from its galactic disklaced with young star clusters and star forming regions inthiscolorful galaxy portrait.The high dust content accompanies frantic star formation,earningNGC 253 the designation of astarburst galaxy.NGC 253 is also known to be a strong source of high-energyx-raysandgamma rays,likely due to massive black holes near the galaxy's center. Tomorrow's picture: volcano world <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD|...

APOD: 2024 February 9 - When Roses Aren t Red Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 9 When Roses Aren't Red Image Credit &Copyright: Tommy Lease(Denver Astronomical Society) Explanation: Not all roses are redof course,but they can still be very pretty.Likewise, the beautifulRosetteNebula and other star forming regions are often shown inastronomical images with a predominately red hue,in part because the dominant emission in the nebula isfrom hydrogen atoms.Hydrogen's strongest optical emission line, known as H-alpha,is in the red region of the spectrum.But the beauty of an emission nebula need not be appreciatedin red light alone.Other atoms in the nebula are also excited by energeticstarlight and produce narrow emission lines as well.In this close-up viewof the Rosette Nebula, narrowband images are mapped into broadbandcolors to show emission from Sulfur atoms in red, Hydrogen in green, andOxygen in blue.In fact, thescheme of mappingthese narrow atomic emission lines (SHO) into the broader colors (RGB) isadopted in manyHubble imagesof emission nebulae.This image spans about 50 light-years across the center of theRosette Nebula.The nebula lies some 3,000light-years awayin the constellation Monoceros. Tomorrow's picture: ingenuity <|...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 10 The Shadow of Ingenuity's Damaged Rotor Blade Image Credit:NASA,JPL-Caltech,Ingenuity Explanation: On January 18, 2024,during its 72nd flight in the thin Martian atmosphere, autonomousMars Helicopter Ingenuityrose to an altitude of 12 meters (40 feet) and hovered for 4.5 secondsabove the Red Planet. Ingenuity's 72nd landing was a rough one though.During descent it lost contact with the Perseverance roverabout 1 meter above the Martian surface.Ingenuity was able to transmit this image after contact wasre-established,showing the shadowof one of itsrotor blades likely damaged during landing.And so, afterwildly exceeding expectationsduring over 1,000 days of exploring Mars,the history-making Ingenuity has ended its flight operations.Nicknamed Ginny, Mars Helicopter Ingenuity becamethe first aircraft to achieve powered, controlled flight on another planeton April 19, 2021.Before launch, a small piece of materialfrom the lower-left wing of theWright Brothers Flyer1, the first aircraft toachieve powered, controlled flight on planet Earth, wasfixed to the undersideof Ingenuity's solar panel. Tomorrow's picture: the shadow of a rocket plume <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors...

APOD: 2024 February 8 - Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 8 Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc Image Credit &Copyright: Marco Lorenzi,Angus Lau,Tommy Tse Explanation: Globular star cluster 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the southern sky.Alsoknown as NGC 104,it roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy along with some 200 otherglobular star clusters.The second brightest globular cluster (afterOmega Centauri)as seen from planet Earth, 47 Tuc lies about 13,000 light-years away.It can be spotted with the naked-eye close on the sky to theSmall Magellanic Cloudin the constellation ofthe Toucan.The dense cluster is made up of hundreds of thousandsof stars in avolume only about 120 light-years across.Red giant starson the outskirts of the cluster are easy to pick out as yellowish starsin thissharp telescopic portrait.Tightly packed globular cluster 47 Tuc is also home toa star with the closest knownorbit around a black hole. Tomorrow's picture: when roses aren't red <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 9 When Roses Aren't Red Image Credit &Copyright: Tommy Lease(Denver Astronomical Society) Explanation: Not all roses are redof course,but they can still be very pretty.Likewise, the beautifulRosetteNebula and other star forming regions are often shown inastronomical images with a predominately red hue,in part because the dominant emission in the nebula isfrom hydrogen atoms.Hydrogen's strongest optical emission line, known as H-alpha,is in the red region of the spectrum.But the beauty of an emission nebula need not be appreciatedin red light alone.Other atoms in the nebula are also excited by energeticstarlight and produce narrow emission lines as well.In this close-up viewof the Rosette Nebula, narrowband images are mapped into broadbandcolors to show emission from Sulfur atoms in red, Hydrogen in green, andOxygen in blue.In fact, thescheme of mappingthese narrow atomic emission lines (SHO) into the broader colors (RGB) isadopted in manyHubble imagesof emission nebulae.This image spans about 50 light-years across the center of theRosette Nebula.The nebula lies some 3,000light-years awayin the constellation Monoceros. Tomorrow's picture: ingenuity <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search|...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 8 Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc Image Credit &Copyright: Marco Lorenzi,Angus Lau,Tommy Tse Explanation: Globular star cluster 47 Tucanae is a jewel of the southern sky.Alsoknown as NGC 104,it roams the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy along with some 200 otherglobular star clusters.The second brightest globular cluster (afterOmega Centauri)as seen from planet Earth, 47 Tuc lies about 13,000 light-years away.It can be spotted with the naked-eye close on the sky to theSmall Magellanic Cloudin the constellation ofthe Toucan.The dense cluster is made up of hundreds of thousandsof stars in avolume only about 120 light-years across.Red giant starson the outskirts of the cluster are easy to pick out as yellowish starsin thissharp telescopic portrait.Tightly packed globular cluster 47 Tuc is also home toa star with the closest knownorbit around a black hole. Tomorrow's picture: when roses aren't red <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA WebPrivacy Policy and Important NoticesA service...

APOD: 2024 February 2 - NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410 Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 2 NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410 Image Credit &Copyright: Sander de Jong Explanation: This cosmic viewshows off an otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410,captured under clear Netherlands skieswith telescope and narrowband filters.Above and right of center you can spottwo remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gasand dust, known as the tadpoles of IC 410.Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itselfsurrounds NGC 1893, a younggalactic cluster of stars.Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, theintensely hot, brightcluster stars energize the glowing gas.Globules composed of denser cooler gas and dust,the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long and arelikely sites of ongoing star formation.Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their heads are outlined bybright ridges of ionized gaswhile their tails trail away from the cluster's central young stars.IC 410 and embedded NGC 1893lie some 10,000 light-years away,toward the nebula-rich constellation Auriga. Tomorrow's picture: the view from Antares <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education|...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 3 Apollo 14: A View from Antares Image Credit:Edgar Mitchell,Apollo 14, NASA;Mosaic -Eric M. Jones Explanation: Apollo 14's Lunar Module Antareslanded on the Moonon February 5, 1971.Toward the end of the stay astronautEd Mitchellsnappeda series of photosof the lunar surface while looking out a window,assembledinto this detailed mosaic byApollo Lunar Surface Journal editor Eric Jones.The view looks across theFra Mauro highlandsto the northwestof the landing site after the Apollo 14 astronauts had completedtheir second and finalwalk on the Moon.Prominent in the foreground is their Modular Equipment Transporter,a two-wheeled, rickshaw-like device used to carry tools and samples.Near the horizon at top center is a 1.5 meter wide boulder dubbedTurtle rock.In the shallow crater below Turtle rockis the long white handle of a sampling instrument,thrown there javelin-style by Mitchell.Mitchell's fellow moonwalker and first American in space,Alan Shepard, also used a makeshift six ironto hittwo golf balls.One of Shepard's golf balls is just visible as a white spotbelow Mitchell's javelin. Tomorrow's picture: cone in the unicorn <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar|...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe isfeatured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2024 February 2 NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410 Image Credit &Copyright: Sander de Jong Explanation: This cosmic viewshows off an otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410,captured under clear Netherlands skieswith telescope and narrowband filters.Above and right of center you can spottwo remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gasand dust, known as the tadpoles of IC 410.Partly obscured by foreground dust, the nebula itselfsurrounds NGC 1893, a younggalactic cluster of stars.Formed in the interstellar cloud a mere 4 million years ago, theintensely hot, brightcluster stars energize the glowing gas.Globules composed of denser cooler gas and dust,the tadpoles are around 10 light-years long and arelikely sites of ongoing star formation.Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation their heads are outlined bybright ridges of ionized gaswhile their tails trail away from the cluster's central young stars.IC 410 and embedded NGC 1893lie some 10,000 light-years away,toward the nebula-rich constellation Auriga. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell...