NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we see the Sun setting at the end of a road. This road runs roughly east-west so the Sun will appear to rise and set at the end of the road on the two equinoxes that occur each year…

In today's image, we see an image of Comet Pons-Brooks. The coma is highlighted to show the swirling pattern around it. It is thought this might be caused by the rotation of the nucleus of the comet …

In today's image, we see galaxies in the process of colliding. The collision will allow large gas clouds to merge and compress, causing star formation rates to increase. We see this in the many large…

In today's image, we see the ongoing construction of the ELT - Extremely Large Telescope. This is expected to be completed later this decade and will be a 40-meter telescope. In the sky above, we see…

In today's image, we see the galaxy known as NGC 1055. The is a spiral type galaxy as we see it edge-on with the dark dust lane concentrated in the disk component of the galaxy.

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In today's image, we see the full moon as it rises over the horizon. The full moon is always directly opposite to the Sun in the sky which makes it 180 degrees (π radians) away from the Sun in the sk…

In today's image, we see the Seagull Nebula. This is an example of an emission nebula which glows red with the light of hydrogen gas that has been excited by ultraviolet light from newly formed hot s…

In today's image, we see the exhaust from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch. Because of the high winds, the exhaust was twisted into a spiral pattern here. In addition, in the background we can see the…

In today's image, we see multiple images of the full moon as it descends toward the horizon. Because the image was taken near Earth's equator, it descends almost straight down instead of at an angle.…

In today's image, we see a total eclipse as seen from Antarctica in 2003. A total eclipse occurs when our Moon passes in front of the Sun and blocks out its light. This allows us to see the Sun's out…

In today's image, we see Comet Pons-Brooks which will make its closest approach to our Sun (perihelion) on April 21 of this year. In addition, we can see two galaxies in our Local Group - the Androme…

In today's image, we see the Tarantula Nebula also known as 30 Doradus. This is a massive star forming region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This region is also home to the closest supernova …

In today's image, we see the separation of the first two stages of a Falcon 9 rocket as it takes astronauts to the International Space Station. The bright spot below center is the second stage igniti…

In today's image, we see a spiral galaxy, perhaps much like our own Milky Way. Because of the positioning of the galaxy, we see it edge-on and can view it as a thin disk rather than seeing the spiral…

In today's image, we see what is known as the Angel Nebula. This star forming region contains several different types of nebulae including the blue reflection nebulae, the red emission nebulae, and t…

In today's image, we see light pillars rising up form the ground - caused by a crystal fog of ice/snow close to the ground. In the sky, we see a number of constellations including Ursa Major which co…

In today's image, we see a video clip showing the total eclipse of the Sun from August of 2017. During totality, we observe around the edge of the Moon and can see the corona of the Sun as well as so…

In today's image, we see the Odysseus lander as it makes its first contact with the lunar surface. One landing leg is visible and broken which causes the lander to be on a tilt. However, it is still …

In today's image, we see the Parkes Radio Telescope dish in Australia. We note that it is pointed in the direction of our Moon, allowing us to receive faint signals from the Odysseus Lander which lan…

In today's image, we see an old Roman coin showing the image of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was responsible for helping to incorporate the leap day into the calendar. This is needed because there ar…