Comet PanSTARRS with Galaxy
6.06.2014

Sweeping slowly through northern skies, the comet PanSTARRS C/2012 K1 posed for this telescopic portrait on June 2nd in the constellation Ursa Major. Now in the inner solar system, the icy body from the Oort cloud sports two tails, a lighter broad dust tail and crooked ion tail extending below and right.

Stars, Dust, and Gas near NGC 3572
27.05.2019

Star formation can be colorful. This chromatic cosmic portrait features glowing gas and dark dust near some recently formed stars of NGC 3572, a little-studied star cluster near the Carina Nebula. Stars from...

InSight on a Cloudy Day
3.10.2019

Clouds drift through the sky as the light fades near sunset in this three frame animated gif. The scene was captured on sol 145 beginning around 6:30pm local time by a camera on the Mars InSight lander. Of course, InSight's martian day, sol 145, corresponds to Earth calendar date April 25, 2019.

Cygnus Without Stars
29.11.2020

The sky is filled with faintly glowing gas, though it can take a sensitive camera and telescope to see it. For example, this twelve-degree-wide view of the northern part of the constellation Cygnus reveals a complex array of cosmic clouds of gas along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy.

M64: The Evil Eye Galaxy
28.03.2021

Who knows what evil lurks in the eyes of galaxies? The Hubble knows -- or in the case of spiral galaxy M64 -- is helping to find out. Messier 64, also known as the Evil...

Moon Shadow on Jupiter
26.04.2022

What is that large dark spot on Jupiter? It's the shadow of Io, one of Jupiter's largest moons. When Jupiter's moons cross between the Jovian giant and the Sun, they created shadows just like when the Earth's moon crosses between the Earth and the Sun.

Red Sprite Lightning over the Czech Republic
11.09.2022

What are those red filaments in the sky? They are a rarely seen form of lightning confirmed only about 35 years ago: red sprites. Research has shown that following a powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning...

NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410
1.02.2024

This cosmic view shows off an otherwise faint emission nebula IC 410, captured under clear Netherlands skies with telescope and narrowband filters. Above and right of center you can spot two remarkable inhabitants of the interstellar pond of gas and dust, known as the tadpoles of IC 410.

APOD: 2025 March 10 Б NGC 1499: The California Nebula
9.03.2025

Could Queen Calafia's mythical island exist in space? Perhaps not, but by chance the outline of this molecular space cloud echoes the outline of the state of California, USA. Our Sun has its home within the Milky Way's Orion Arm, only about 1,000 light-years from the California Nebula.

International Space Station Trail
13.12.2000

Still under construction, the International Space Station is literally becoming one of the brightest, fastest moving stars in the heavens. Despite illuminated clouds and bright light from a nearly full moon (lower left), this...