APOD: 2023 September 25 Б Arp 142: The Hummingbird Galaxy
24.09.2023

What's happening to this spiral galaxy? Just a few hundred million years ago, NGC 2936, the upper of the two large galaxies shown at the bottom, was likely a normal spiral galaxy -- spinning, creating stars -- and minding its own business.

APOD: 2023 August 2 Б M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
1.08.2023

Why is the Cigar Galaxy billowing red smoke? M82, as this starburst galaxy is also known, was stirred up by a recent pass near large spiral galaxy M81. This doesn't fully explain the source of the red-glowing outwardly expanding gas and dust, however.

APOD: 2020 August 26 Б Cygnus Skyscape
25.08.2020

In brush strokes of interstellar dust and glowing hydrogen gas, this beautiful skyscape is painted across the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy near the northern end of the Great Rift and the constellation Cygnus the Swan.

APOD: 2023 November 19 Б Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
18.11.2023

That's no sunspot. It's the International Space Station (ISS) caught passing in front of the Sun. Sunspots, individually, have a dark central umbra, a lighter surrounding penumbra, and no Dragon capsules attached.

APOD: 2025 June 4 Б A Milky Road to the Rubin Observatory
3.06.2025

Is the sky the same every night? No -- the night sky changes every night in many ways. To better explore how the night sky changes, the USA's NSF and DOE commissioned the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Cerro PachцЁn, Chile.

APOD: 2024 February 19 Б Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
18.02.2024

What's happening near the Sun? To help find out, NASA launched the robotic Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to investigate regions closer to the Sun than ever before. The PSP's looping orbit brings it nearer to the Sun each time around -- every few months.

APOD: 2024 April 3 Б Unusual Nebula Pa 30
2.04.2024

What created this unusual celestial firework? The nebula, dubbed Pa 30, appears in the same sky direction now as a bright "guest star" did in the year 1181. Although Pa 30's filaments look...

APOD: 2023 July 30 Б Spiral Aurora over Icelandic Divide
29.07.2023

Admire the beauty but fear the beast. The beauty is the aurora overhead, here taking the form of a great green spiral, seen between picturesque clouds with the bright Moon to the side and stars in the background.

APOD: 2025 January 29 Б Dust Shells around WR 140 from Webb
28.01.2025

What are those strange rings? Rich in dust, the rings are likely 3D shells -- but how they were created remains a topic of research. Where they were created is well known: in a binary...

APOD: 2026 March 6 Б The Astrosphere of HD 61005
5.03.2026

Do young stars blow bubbles? The larger view shows a stellar field observed with the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, and the inset highlights HD 61005, a star like our Sun, only 120 light-years away.