NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known by its catalog designation of NGC 2841. This is a spiral galaxy with very tightly wound spiral arms and enhanced x-ray emission in a halo around the g…

In today's image, we see the Andromeda Galaxy, also known as M31. This is the nearest large spiral galaxy to our own Milky Way and is the most distant object that can be easily seen with the naked ey…

In today's image, we see a part of the constellation of Taurus. We can see the very dusty region of star formation. Near the center is the variable star, T Tauri which is a young star and the surroun…

In today's image, we see the Crab Nebula, a supernova reman at from a star that was observed to explode on Earth in the year 1054. We see the expansion of the nebula from 2008 through 2022 and can se…

In today's image, we see the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent built by the Mayans around a thousand years ago. Above in the sky, we see our Milky Way galaxy as well as the planets Saturn and Jupiter,…

In today's image, we see the star Wolf-Rayet 124. The Wolf-Rayet stars are among the most massive stars in the universe and are the type the we expect will eventually end their lives in a supernova e…

In today's image, we see the Medusa Nebula. This is an example of a planetary nebula which is what will form at the end of the life of a star much like our own Sun.

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In today's image, we see the globular star cluster Omega Centauri. Globular star clusters are among the oldest parts of our galaxy.

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In today's image, we see the planets Jupiter and Venus as they appeared close together in the sky earlier this month. When two objects pass close together in the sky, we call this a conjunction. Anot…

In today's image, we see the Soul Nebula which is a star forming region in the constellation of Cassiopeia. New stars are forming and are clearing out the gas and dust from the central regions.

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In today's image, we see a rainbow that appear to end at a tree off in the distance. The actual position of the rainbow depends on the location of the observer, however. The rainbow is formed when su…

In today's image, we see the moon of Saturn known as Hyperion. It is interesting for the unusual craters on its surface which give it an almost sponge-like appearance. The image was taken by the Cass…

In today's image, we see the asteroid Bennu which was visited by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft a couple of years ago. The spacecraft collected a sample of the asteroid which is now on its way back to Ear…

In today's image, we see the Orion Nebula below. This is an emission nebula showing the red glow of hydrogen gas which has been excited. Above is the Running Man Nebula which has a blue color and is …

In today's image, we see the asteroid known as Dimorphos just a few seconds before the DART craft impacted into its surface. This was an experiment to see how an asteroid orbit could be changed by an…

In today's image, we see a map of the world showing the brightness of the night sky caused by artificial lighting here on Earth. In may of the more populated areas, the Milky Way galaxy is no longer …

In today's image, we see the Large Magellanic Cloud, the nearest satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. In this deep exposure, we can see that there is a bar-like structure across the galaxy, similar…

In today's image, we see Jupiter and Venus as seen from Earth in 2012 when they were about three degrees apart in the sky, with a person set between the two planets appearing to hold one in each hand…

In today's image, we see the planets Jupiter and Venus in the sky over Italy. Venus is the brighter of the two objects at the center of the image. When two objects pass close together in the sky, it …

In today's image, we see 10 images of the sky showing the planets Venus and Jupiter from February 21 through March 2. We can follow as Jupiter sinks lower and lower in the sky while Venus gets higher…