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NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
23 сент., 04:29
2026 September 23A New Lunar Crater: McGetchin Image Credit: NASA/GSFC/Intuitive Machines Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)A once-in-a-lifetime crater has appeared on the Moon! A comet or asteroid roughly the size of a humpback whale (approximately 10-20 meters, 30-60 feet) crashed into the Moon sometime between April and May of 2024. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), with its monthly monitoring of the Moon, captured today’s images of the lunar surface before and after the event. The resulting crater, named after Apollo-era lunar scientist McGetchin, is two soccer fields across. Craters of this size are only expected once every 132 years! Follow up thermal imaging revealed a large cold spot that surrounds the warm crater. Surface impacts will puff up the loose lunar sediment, or regolith, making it less dense and harder to retain heat. This event affected an area much larger than the visible crater, which will inform humanity’s understanding of surface impacts and the evolution of the Moon’s surface. It also reminds us all to be thankful for Earth's atmosphere.🔗Discuss 🎞Before/After
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
22 сент., 04:29
2026 September 22Chance Triple Alignment: Plane, Space Station, Sun Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horalek / Inst. Physics OpavaThis shot captured an unexpected silhouette. Which is it? It isn't the sunspots, the small dark regions caused by concentrated magnetic fields visible around the Sun's bright disk. Sunspots typically last for weeks and were expected, since these spots were seen previously. It isn’t the International Space Station (ISS), the small dark structure on the middle left. This is because the featured picture was planned with sub-second timing to record the iconic structure passing before the Sun. It is the airplane. Just as this exposure was taking place in June, from Prasek in the Czech Republic, an airplane began its own miniature partial eclipse. The result is this triply aligned image of our Sun. The photographer estimates that the chance of any random Sun
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
21 сент., 21:18
Tomorrow's picture: triple eclipseNASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
21 сент., 04:29
2026 September 21Cocoon Nebula Wide Field Image Credit & Copyright: Piotr CzerskiWhen does a nebula look like a comet? In this crowded starfield covering over two degrees within the high-flying constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A compact star forming region, the cosmic Cocoon punctuates a nebula bright in emission and reflection on the lower right, with a long trail of interstellar dust clouds to the left, making the entire complex appear a bit like a comet. Cataloged as IC 5146, the central bright head of the nebula spans about 10 light years, while the dark dusty tail spans nearly 100 light years. Both are located about 2,500 light years away. A bright star near the colorful nebula's center likely supplies power and helps clear out a cavity. The long dusty filaments of the tail, although dark in this visible light image, hide stars in the
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
20 сент., 04:29
2026 September 20Analemma over the Callanish Stones Image Credit & Copyright: Giuseppe PetriccaIf you went outside at the same time every day and took a picture that included the Sun, how would the Sun's position change? A visual answer to that question is an analemma, a composite image taken from the same spot at the same time over the course of a year. The featured analemma was composed from images taken every few days at noon near the village of Callanish in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, UK. In the foreground are the Callanish Stones, a stone circle built around 2700 BC during humanity's Bronze Age. It is not known if the placement of the Callanish Stones has or had astronomical significance. The ultimate causes for the figure-8 shape of this and all analemmas are the tilt of the Earth axis and the ellipticity of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. At the solstices, the Sun will
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
19 сент., 20:51
Tomorrow's picture: only sunny daysNASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
19 сент., 18:03
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
19 сент., 04:29
2026 September 19A Zodiacal Night Image Credit & Copyright: Neelam and Ajay Talwar (TWAN)Also known as the false dawn, a luminous band of zodiacal light is captured in this dark night skyscape. The serene view was recorded just before the beginning of astronomical twilight during September's star party at the remote Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, Ladakh, India, planet Earth. At about 4,500 meters altitude, the dark sky reserve presents a haven for hardy stargazing and astrophotography enthusiasts. While meteors streak through the night, bright planet Jupiter appears immersed in the faint zodiacal glow near the eastern horizon. Follow the zodiacal band toward the zenith to find open star cluster M44 and a yellowish tinged planet Mars near the center of the frame. In fact, serendipitous detections of interplanetary dust by NASA's Juno spacecraft suggest Mars itself is the source of dust that
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
18 сент., 04:29
2026 September 18Messier 33: The Triangulum Galaxy Image Credit & Copyright: George ChatzifrantzisThe small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, Messier 33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other's grand spiral star systems. As for the view from the Milky Way, this sharp telescopic image shows off M33's blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along the galaxy's loosely wound spiral arms. In fact, the cavernous NGC 604 is the brightest star forming
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
17 сент., 09:31изменён
2026 September 17A Treasure Chest in the Carina Nebula Image Credit & Copyright: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, M. Reiter; Acknowledgement: M. H. Özsaraç Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)This treasure chest is full of stars. The featured image was obtained with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope and shows a dust pilar in the Carina Nebula inside our Galaxy, roughly 7500 light-years away. It is formed by interstellar gas and dust, and shaped by powerful stellar winds and radiation form neighboring stars like the nearby Eta Carinae stellar system which is more luminous than 5 million suns. The star formation inside the pillar is excavating its head, creating the open lid of the chest. Astronomers estimate that there are about 70 stars in a compact cluster inside the pillar. This cluster is now thought to be only around 1.3 million years old. Its bounty of young stars includes
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
17 сент., 01:51
Tomorrow's picture: treasureNASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
16 сент., 11:45
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
16 сент., 04:29
2026 September 16Webb's View of M64 Image Credit: NASA, CSA, ESA, F. Belfiore (ESO), J. Lee (STScI), A. Leroy (OSU), and D. Thilker (JHU); Image Processing: G. Kober (NASA/Catholic University) Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)Sometimes where Hubble finds darkness, Webb sees light. An example is today’s composite images of Messier 64 (M64), a nearby spiral galaxy of many names. The dark band of dust partially blocking its bright core earned it the moniker “the Black Eye Galaxy.” Webb’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) sees that dust, shown in red, as it absorbs and re-emits light from surrounding newborn stars. These young stars are embedded in pink star-forming regions in the secondary Hubble-only image. M64’s inner and outer gas regions counter-rotate, creating regions of increased star formation where the two gas “currents” meet and compress. A merger
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
15 сент., 23:01
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
15 сент., 20:35
Tomorrow's picture: galactic eyeNASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
15 сент., 04:31изменён
2026 September 15A Daytime Eclipse: Moon Occults Venus Image Credit & Copyright: Arnaud MariatThere was something behind the clouds. Upon close inspection, it was the Moon, which was hard to see yesterday around noon above the small village of Cessy, France. But soon, it was not only the Moon. As expected, a bright dot suddenly appeared from behind the Moon -- the planet Venus far in the distance. Captured in the single featured exposure, both appeared to show a crescent phase. The Moon's crescent was quite slight -- with only about 10 percent of its face illuminated by the Sun. In contrast, Venus's crescent was more full -- showing about 25 percent illumination. Venus appeared brighter because it is nearer the Sun and because its clouds are more reflective than the dark lunar surface. An occultation of Venus by the Moon is visible to only about 10 percent of the Earth, but in
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
14 сент., 22:08
Tomorrow's picture: Venus reappearsNASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
14 сент., 04:33
2026 September 14Where Your Elements Came From Image Credit: NASA's GSFC, SVSThe hydrogen in your body and present in every molecule of water came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts or gravitational wave events. Elements like phosphorus and copper are present in our bodies in only small amounts but are essential to the functioning of all known life. The featured periodic table is color coded to indicate humanity's best guess as to the nuclear origin of all known elements. The sites of nuclear
NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
13 сент., 19:20
Tomorrow's picture: elemental youNASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day
13 сент., 04:32
2026 September 13Comet NEOWISE Rising over the Adriatic Sea Video Credit & Copyright: Paolo GirottiThis sight was worth getting out of bed early. Just over six years ago, Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) rose before dawn to the delight of northern sky enthusiasts awake that early. Up before sunrise on July 8th, the featured photographer was able to capture in dramatic fashion one of the few comets visible to the unaided eye this century, an inner-Solar System intruder that has become known as the Great Comet of 2020. The resulting video detailed Comet NEOWISE from Italy rising over the Adriatic Sea. The featured time-lapse video combines over 240 images taken over 30 minutes. The comet was seen rising through a foreground of bright and undulating noctilucent clouds, and before a background of distant stars. Comet NEOWISE remained unexpectedly bright for over a month, with its ion and dust
