Mars in the Loop
8.11.2018

This composite of images spaced some 5 to 9 days apart, from late April (bottom right) through November 5 (top left), traces the retrograde motion of ruddy-colored Mars through planet Earth's night sky.

Facing NGC 6946
4.10.2002

From our vantage point in the Milky Way Galaxy, we see NGC 6946 face on. The big beautiful spiral galaxy is located just 10 million light-years away, behind a veil of foreground stars in the high and far-off constellation of Cepheus.

Eclipse Over Acacia
3.12.2002

On December 4th, for the second time in as many years, the Moon's shadow will track across southern Africa bringing a total solar eclipse to African skies. Reaching Africa just before...

Martian Dunes and the Shadow of Opportunity
24.03.2009

Human made robots continue to roll across the surface of Mars. Both Opportunity and its sister rover Spirit are in their sixth year on Mars, exploring the red planet for years longer than original expectations.

A Total Eclipse at the End of the World
15.01.2011

Would you go to the end of the world to see a total eclipse of the Sun? If you did, would you be surprised to find someone else there already? In 2003, the Sun, the Moon, Antarctica, and two photographers all lined up in Antarctica during an unusual total solar eclipse.

Orion Nebula: The 2MASS View
20.04.2002

Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1,500 light-years away.

Io Volcano: Pele's Hot Lava
26.11.1999

Glowing hot lava from the heart of Io's volcano Pele is visible in this false-color infrared composite image. It was recorded last month during the Galileo spacecraft's close flyby of the Jovian moon.

Exploring the Ring
18.09.2008

A familiar sight for northern hemisphere astronomers, the Ring Nebula (M57) is some 2,000 light-years away in the musical constellation Lyra. The central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep...

Milky Way Auroral Flower
18.10.2022

Could the stem of our Milky Way bloom into an auroral flower? No, not really, even though it may appear that way in todayБs featured all-sky image. On the left, the central plane of our home galaxy extends from the horizon past the middle of the sky.

Geminid Meteors over Teide Volcano
17.12.2013

On some nights it rains meteors. Peaking two nights ago, asteroid dust streaked through the dark skies of Earth, showering down during the annual Geminids meteor shower. Astrophotographer Juan Carlos Casado captured the space weather event, as pictured above, in a series of exposures spanning about 2.3 hours using a wide angle lens.