The Solar Neighborhood
25.02.1998

You are here. The orange dot in the above false-color drawing represents the current location of the Sun among local gas clouds in the spiral Milky Way Galaxy. These gas clouds are so thin that we usually see right through them. Nearly spherical bubbles surround regions of recent star formation.

APOD: 2026 February 17 Б Tails of Comet Wierzchoе
17.02.2026

Some comets are regular guests of our solar neighborhood; others come by only once, never to return. We wonБt have another chance to see Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzchoе), which is currently making its way through the inner Solar System. The hyperbolic orbit of this comet indicates that it will likely become an interstellar traveler.

Kepler s Streak
9.03.2009

Streaking skyward, a Delta II rocket carries NASA's Kepler spacecraft aloft into the clear night of March 6. The dramatic scene was recorded in a time exposure from the crowded pier in Jetty Park at the northern end of Cocoa Beach, Florida, about 3 miles from the Cape Canaveral launch site.

A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind
11.12.1999

The unassuming star centered in this sky view will one day be our next door stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf, currently 63 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus, was recently discovered to be approaching our Solar System.

A Close Encounter of the Stellar Kind
26.06.1997

The unassuming star centered in this sky view will one day be our next door stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf currently 63 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus was recently discovered to be on a course toward our Solar System.

A Close Encounter Of The Stellar Kind
7.07.2001

The unassuming star centered in this sky view will one day be our next door stellar neighbor. The faint 9th magnitude red dwarf, currently 63 light-years away in the constellation Ophiucus, was recently discovered to be approaching our Solar System.

APOD: 2024 February 19 Б Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
19.02.2024

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.

Portrait of an Infant Solar System
7.06.2002

This infant solar system was discovered posing along the lonely outskirts of the Rho Ophiuchi dark cloud, a star forming region 500 light-years from Earth. Enlarged in this infrared false-color portrait from the European...

Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
9.12.2019

Everybody sees the Sun. Nobody's been there. Starting in 2018 though, NASA launched the robotic Parker Solar Probe (PSP) to investigate regions near to the Sun for the first time. The PSP's looping orbit brings it yet closer to the Sun each time around -- every few months.

Night on a Spooky Planet
30.10.2022

What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth of course, on a dark and stormy night in 2013 at Hverir, a geothermally active area along the volcanic landscape in northeastern Iceland. Triggered by solar activity, geomagnetic storms produced the auroral display in the starry night sky.