Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 September 28
Part of a large rock on Mars is shown being mostly orange. On the rock
are several irregular light-colored areas surrounded by a dark border.
The spots are only millimeters across but might be a remnant
biosignature of ancient Martian life. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

Leopard Spots on Martian Rocks
Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS, Perseverance Rover

Explanation: What is creating these unusual spots? Light-colored spots
on Martian rocks, each surrounded by a dark border, were discovered
last year by NASA's Perseverance Rover currently exploring Mars. Dubbed
leopard spots because of their seemingly similarity to markings on
famous Earth-bound predators, these curious patterns are being studied
with the possibility they were created by ancient Martian life. The
pictured spots measure only millimeters across and were discovered on a
larger rock named Cheyava Falls. The exciting but unproven speculation
is that long ago, microbes generated energy with chemical reactions
that turned rock from red to white while leaving a dark biosignature
ring, like some similarly appearing spots on Earth rocks. Although
other non-biological explanations have not been ruled out, speculation
focusing on this potential biological origin is causing much intrigue.

Tomorrow's picture: comet comet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 September 29
A starfield is shown that has two short streaks running diagonally. At
closer inspection, they are two comets both with white-green heads and
white tails. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Two Camera Comets in One Sky
Image Credit & Copyright: Luc Perrot (TWAN)

Explanation: It may look like these comets are racing, but they are
not. Comets C/2025 K1 ATLAS (left) and C/2025 R2 SWAN (right) appeared
near each other by chance last week in the featured image taken from
France's Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean. Fainter Comet
ATLAS is approaching our Sun and will reach its closest approach in
early October when it is also expected to be its brightest -- although
still only likely visible with long exposures on a camera. The brighter
comet, nicknamed SWAN25B, is now headed away from our Sun, although its
closest approach to Earth is expected in mid-October, when optimistic
estimates have it becoming bright enough to see with the unaided eye.
Each comet has a greenish coma of expelled gas and an ion tail pointing
away from the Sun.

Growing Gallery: Comet SWAN25B
Tomorrow's picture: a third camera comet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 September 30
A starfield is shown that has a bright comet. The comet shows a green
head on the lower left and an ion tail with significant structure
extending out to the upper right. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Comet Lemmon Brightens
Image Credit & Copyright: Victor Sabet & Julien De Winter

Explanation: Comet Lemmon is brightening and moving into morning
northern skies. Besides Comet SWAN25B and Comet ATLAS, Comet C/2025 A6
(Lemmon) is now the third comet currently visible with binoculars and
on long camera exposures. Comet Lemmon was discovered early this year
and is still headed into the inner Solar System. The comet will round
the Sun on November 8, but first it will pass its nearest to the Earth
-- at about half the Earth-Sun distance -- on October 21. Although the
brightnesses of comets are notoriously hard to predict, optimistic
estimates have Comet Lemmon then becoming visible to the unaided eye.
The comet should be best seen in predawn skies until mid-October, when
it also becomes visible in evening skies. The featured image showing
the comet's split and rapidly changing ion tail was taken in Texas, USA
late last week.

Growing Gallery: Comet Lemmon in 2025
Tomorrow's picture: mopping up
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 October 1
A starfield is shown that has a multi-filament nebula flowing across it
horizontally. The most prominent colors are red and blue. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Brian Meyers

Explanation: Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human
history, a new light would suddenly have appeared in the night sky and
faded after a few weeks. Today we know this light was from a supernova,
or exploding star, and record the expanding debris cloud as the Veil
Nebula, a supernova remnant. This sharp telescopic view is centered on
a western segment of the Veil Nebula cataloged as NGC 6960 but less
formally known as the Witch's Broom Nebula. Blasted out in the
cataclysmic explosion, an interstellar shock wave plows through space
sweeping up and exciting interstellar material. Imaged with narrow band
filters, the glowing filaments are like long ripples in a sheet seen
almost edge on, remarkably well separated into atomic hydrogen (red)
and oxygen (blue-green) gas. The complete supernova remnant lies about
1400 light-years away towards the constellation Cygnus. This Witch's
Broom actually spans about 35 light-years. The bright star in the frame
is 52 Cygni, visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but
unrelated to the ancient supernova remnant.

Tomorrow's picture: the shadowy realm
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 17
A starfield is shown above a mountain peak. Just above the mountain and
extending up toward the upper right is a blue-tinted tail of a comet.
The comet's head is just to the left of the peak. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Comet Lemmon's Wandering Tail
Image Credit: Ignacio Fern+índez

Explanation: What has happened to Comet Lemmon's tail? The answer is
blowing in the wind CÇö the wind from the Sun in this case. This
continuous outflow of charged particles from the Sun has been quite
variable of late, as the Sun emits bursts of energy, CMEs, that push
out and deflect charged particles emitted by the comet itself. The
result is a blue hued ion tail for Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) that is not
only impressively intricate but takes some unusual turns. This
long-duration composite image taken from Alfacar, Spain last month
captured this inner Solar System ionic tumult. Comet Lemmon is now
fading as it heads out away from the Earth and Sun and back into the
outer Solar System.

Tomorrow's picture: radio milky way
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 18

The Galactic Plane: Radio Versus Visible
Image Credit: Radio: S. Mantovanini & the GLEAM team; Visible: Axel
Mellinger (milkywaysky.com)

Explanation: What does the Milky Way look like in radio waves? To
better find out, GLEAM surveyed the central band of our galaxy in high
resolution radio light as imaged by the Murchison Widefield Array in
Australia. As the featured video slowly scrolls, radio light (71 - 231
MHz) is seen on the left and visible light -- from the same field -- on
the right. Differences are so great because most objects glow
differently in radio and visible light, and because visible light is
stopped by nearby interstellar dust. These differences are particularly
apparent in the direction toward the center of our galaxy, seen about a
third of the way through. Among the many features that appear in the
radio, bright red patches are usually supernova remnants of exploded
stars, while areas colored blue are stellar nurseries filled with
bright young stars.

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media?
Tomorrow's picture: the big V
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 19
The featured image shows a dark nebula complex involving thick dust
appearing brown and making a big

Chamaeleon Dark Nebulas
Image Credit & Copyright: Xinran Li & Houbo Zhao

Explanation: Sometimes the dark dust of interstellar space has an
angular elegance. Such is the case toward the far-south constellation
of Chamaeleon. Normally too faint to see, dark dust is best known for
blocking visible light from stars and galaxies behind it. In this
11.4-hour exposure, however, the dust is seen mostly in light of its
own, with its strong red and near-infrared colors creating a brown hue.
Contrastingly blue, a bright star Beta Chamaeleontis is visible on the
upper right of the V, with the dust that surrounds it preferentially
reflecting blue light from its primarily blue-white color. All of the
pictured stars and dust occur in our own Milky Way Galaxy with one
notable exception: a white spot just below Beta Chamaeleontis is the
galaxy IC 3104, which lies far in the distance. Interstellar dust is
mostly created in the cool atmospheres of giant stars and dispersed
into space by stellar light, stellar winds, and stellar explosions such
as supernovas.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 20

Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka
Image Credit & Copyright: Aygen Erkaslan

Explanation: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka are the bright bluish stars
from east to west (upper right to lower left) along the diagonal in
this cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion, these three
blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun.
They lie from 700 to 2,000 light-years away, born of Orion's
well-studied interstellar clouds. In fact, clouds of gas and dust
adrift in this region have some surprisingly familiar shapes, including
the dark Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula near Alnitak at the upper
right. The famous Orion Nebula itself is off the right edge of this
colorful starfield. The telescopic frame spans almost 4 degrees on the
sky.

Tomorrow's picture: interstellar
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 21

3I/ATLAS: A View from Planet Earth
Image Credit & Copyright: Rolando Ligustri

Explanation: Now outbound after its perihelion or closest approach to
the Sun on October 29, Comet 3I/ATLAS is only the third known
interstellar object to pass through our fair Solar System. Its greenish
coma and faint tails are seen against a background of stars in the
constellation Virgo in this view from planet Earth, recorded with a
small telescope on November 14. But this interstellar interloper is the
subject of an on-going, unprecedented Solar System-wide observing
campaign involving spacecraft and space telescopes from Earth orbit to
the surface of Mars and beyond. And while the comet from another
star-system has recently grown brighter, you'll still need a telescope
if you want to see 3I/ATLAS from planet Earth. It's now above the
horizon in November morning skies and will make its closest approach to
Earth, a comfortable 270 million kilometers distant, around December
19.

Tomorrow's picture: Dione and Rhea Ring Transit
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 22

Dione and Rhea Ring Transit
Image Credit & Copyright: Christopher Go

Explanation: Seen to the left of Saturn's banded planetary disk, small
icy moons Dione and Rhea are caught passing in front of the gas giant's
extensive ring system in this sharp telescopic snapshot. The remarkable
image was recorded on November 20, when Saturn's rings were nearly
edge-on when viewed from planet Earth. In fact, every 13 to 16 years
the view from planet Earth aligns with Saturn's ring plane to produce a
series of ring plane crossings. During a ring plane crossing, the
interplanetary edge-on perspective makes the thin but otherwise bright
rings seem to disappear. By November 23rd Saturn's rings will have
reached a minimum angle for now, at their narrowest for viewing from
planet Earth, but then start to widen again. Of course, Dione and Rhea
orbit Saturn near the ring plane once every 2.7 and 4.5 days
respectively, while the next series of Saturn ring plane crossings as
seen from Earth will begin again in 2038.

Tomorrow's picture: everything, everywhere, all at once
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 23
A diagram is shown depicting various parts of the universe that are
observable. In the middle are the parts closest to Earth, and around
the far edges are parts furthest from Earth. Planets, galaxies, and the
CMB are illustrated. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

The Observable Universe
Illustration Credit & Licence: Wikipedia, Pablo Carlos Budassi

Explanation: How far can you see? Everything you can see, and
everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could
detect all types of radiations around you -- is the observable
universe. In light, the farthest we can see comes from the cosmic
microwave background, a time 13.8 billion years ago when the universe
was opaque like thick fog. Some neutrinos and gravitational waves that
surround us come from even farther out, but humanity does not yet have
the technology to detect them. The featured image illustrates the
observable universe on an increasingly compact scale, with the Earth
and Sun at the center surrounded by our Solar System, nearby stars,
nearby galaxies, distant galaxies, filaments of early matter, and the
cosmic microwave background. Cosmologists typically assume that our
observable universe is just the nearby part of a greater entity known
as "the universe" where the same physics applies. However, there are
several lines of popular but speculative reasoning that assert that
even our universe is part of a greater multiverse where either
different physical constants occur, different physical laws apply,
higher dimensions operate, or slightly different-by-chance versions of
our standard universe exist.

Explore the Observable Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: stellar shell game
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 24
A starfield has a large and unusual red and orange nebula in the
middle. The nebula seems to contain not only swirls but also nearly
transparent shells. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Apep: Unusual Dust Shells from Webb
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST; Science: Y. Han (Caltech),
R. White (Macquarie U.); Image Processing: A. Pagan (STScI)

Explanation: What created this unusual space sculpture? Stars. This
unusual system of swirls and shells, known as Apep, was observed in
unprecedented detail by NASACÇÖs James Webb Space Telescope in infrared
light in 2024. Observations indicate that the unusual shape originates
from two massive Wolf-Rayet stars orbiting each other every 190 years
with each close passes causing a new shell of dust and gas to be
expelled. Holes in these shells are thought to be caused by a third
orbiting star. This stellar dust dance will likely continue for
hundreds of thousands of years, possibly ending only when one of the
massive stars runs out of internal nuclear fuel and explodes in a
supernova punctuated by a burst of gamma-rays.

Build your own star system: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
Tomorrow's picture: picturesque comet
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 25
A night skyscape is shown over snowcapped mountains. On the left is the
band of the Milky Way Galaxy, while on the right is a bright comet with
two tails -- a white tail going up and trailing to the right and a
longer blue tail going up and trailing off to the left. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Lin Zixuan (Tsinghua U.)

Explanation: What did Comet Lemmon look like when it was at its best?
One example is pictured here, featuring three celestial spectacles all
at different distances. The closest spectacle is the snowcapped Meili
Mountains, part of the Himalayas in China. The middle marvel is Comet
Lemmon near its picturesque best early this month, showing not only a
white dust tail trailing off to the right but its blue solar
wind-distorted ion tail trailing off to the left. Far in the distance
on the left is the magnificent central plane of our Milky Way Galaxy,
featuring dark dust, red nebula, and including billions of Sun-like
stars. Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is already fading as it heads back into
the outer Solar System, while the Himalayan mountains will gradually
erode over the next billion years. The Milky Way Galaxy, though, will
live on -- forming new mountains and comets -- for many billions of
years into the future.

Tomorrow's picture: huge ball of stars
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 26
A starfield is shown with thin wisps of gray and red running through
it. In the center is an usual ball -- which is a globular cluster of
stars upon closer inspection. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

Globular Cluster M15 Deep Field
Image Credit & Copyright: Alvaro Ibanez Perez

Explanation: Stars, like bees, swarm around the center of bright
globular cluster M15. The central ball of over 100,000 stars is a relic
from the early years of our Galaxy, and continues to orbit the Milky
Way's center. M15, one of about 150 globular clusters remaining, is
noted for being easily visible with only binoculars, having at its
center one of the densest concentrations of stars known, and containing
a high abundance of variable stars and pulsars. The featured image of
M15 was taken by combining very long exposures -- 122 hours in all --
and so brings up faint wisps of gas and dust in front of the giant ball
of stars. M15 lies about 35,000 light years away toward the
constellation of the Winged Horse (Pegasus).

Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 27

Portrait of NGC 1055
Image Credit & Copyright: John Hayes

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 1055 is a dominant member
of a small galaxy group a mere 60 million light-years away toward the
aquatically intimidating constellation Cetus. Seen edge-on, the island
universe spans over 100,000 light-years, a little larger than our own
Milky Way galaxy. The colorful, spiky stars decorating this cosmic
portrait of NGC 1055 are in the foreground, well within the Milky Way.
But telltale pinkish star forming regions and young blue star clusters
are scattered through winding dust lanes along the distant galaxy's
thin disk. With a smattering of even more distant background galaxies,
the deep image also reveals a boxy halo that extends far above and
below the central bulge and disk of NGC 1055. The halo itself is laced
with faint, narrow structures, and could represent the mixed and spread
out debris from a satellite galaxy disrupted by the larger spiral some
10 billion years ago.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 28

NGC 6888: The Crescent Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Greg Bass

Explanation: NGC 6888, also known as the Crescent Nebula, is a about 25
light-years across, a cosmic bubble blown by winds from its central,
massive star. This deep telescopic image includes narrowband image
data, to isolate light from hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The oxygen atoms
produce the blue-green hue that seems to enshroud the nebula's detailed
folds and filaments. Visible within the nebula, NGC 6888's central star
is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star (WR 136). The star is shedding its
outer envelope in a strong stellar wind, ejecting the equivalent of the
Sun's mass every 10,000 years. In fact, the Crescent Nebula's complex
structures are likely the result of this strong wind interacting with
material ejected in an earlier phase. Burning fuel at a prodigious rate
and near the end of its stellar life, this star should ultimately go
out with a bang in a spectacular supernova explosion. Found in the
nebula rich constellation Cygnus, NGC 6888 is about 5,000 light-years
away.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 29

Moon Games
Image Credit & Copyright: Giorgia Hofer

Explanation: This is not a screen from a video game. Nestled below the
tree-line, the small mountain church does look like it might be hiding
from Moon though. In the well-composed telephoto snapshot, taken on
November 23, the church walls are partly reflecting light from
terrestrial flood lights. Of course, the Moon is reflecting light from
the Sun. At any given time the Sun illuminates fully half of the Moon's
surface, also known as the lunar dayside, but on that night only a
sliver of its sunlit surface was visible. About three days after New
Moon, the Moon was in a waxing crescent phase. The single exposure was
captured shortly after sunset in skies near Danta di Cadore, northern
Italy, planet Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: most distant landing
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
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NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.

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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 November 30
A strange orange landscape is shown. What appears to be light and dark
orange rocks are strewn about. The landscape appears roughly flat all
the way out to the orange sky and horizon. Please see the explanation
for more detailed information.

The Surface of Titan from Huygens
Image Credit: ESA, NASA, JPL, U. Arizona, Huygens Lander

Explanation: If you could stand on Titan -- what would you see? The
featured color view from Titan gazes across an unfamiliar and distant
landscape on Saturn's largest moon. The scene was recorded by ESA's
Huygens probe in 2005 after a 2.5-hour descent through a thick
atmosphere of nitrogen laced with methane. Bathed in an eerie orange
light at ground level, rocks strewn about the scene could well be
composed of water and hydrocarbons frozen solid at an inhospitable
temperature of negative 179 degrees C. The large light-toned rock below
and left of center is only about 15 centimeters across and lies 85
centimeters away. The saucer-shaped spacecraft is believed to have
penetrated about 15 centimeters into a place on Titan's surface that
had the consistency of wet sand or clay. Huygen's batteries enabled the
probe to take and transmit data for more than 90 minutes after landing.
Titan's bizarre chemical environment may bear similarities to planet
Earth's before life evolved.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 1
A starfield is shown around a comet. The green coma of the comet is on
the lower left. A meandering blue-tinted tail goes off to the upper
right. A slight anti-tail is seen from the coma toward the lower left.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

3I ATLAS: Tails of an Interstellar Comet
Image Credit & Copyright: Victor Sabet & Julien De Winter

Explanation: How typical is our Solar System? Studying 3I/ATLAS, a
comet just passing through, is providing clues. Confirmed previous
interstellar visitors include an asteroid, a comet, a meteor, and a gas
wind dominated by hydrogen and helium. Comet 3I/ATLAS appears
relatively normal when compared to Solar System comets, therefore
providing more evidence that our Solar System is a somewhat typical
star system. For example, Comet 3I/ATLAS has a broadly similar chemical
composition and ejected dust. The featured image was captured last week
from Texas and shows a green coma, a wandering blue-tinted ion tail
likely deflected by our Sun's wind, and a slight anti-tail, all typical
cometary attributes. The comet, visible with a telescope, passed its
closest to the Sun in late October and will pass its closest to the
Earth in mid-December, after which it will return to interstellar space
and never return.

Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: active galaxy
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 2
A big beautiful sprawling spiral galaxy is shown. The galaxy has well
defined spiral arms with bright blue star clusters and dark red dust.
The center is a bright white. Please see the explanation for more
detailed information.

M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center
Image Credit: Hubble, NASA, ESA, L. C. Ho, D. Thilker

Explanation: What's happening in the center of nearby spiral galaxy
M77? The face-on galaxy lies a mere 47 million light-years away toward
the constellation of the Sea Monster (Cetus). At that estimated
distance, this gorgeous island universe is about 100 thousand
light-years across. Also known as NGC 1068, its compact and very bright
core is well studied by astronomers exploring the mysteries of
supermassive black holes in active Seyfert galaxies. M77's active core
glows bright at x-ray, ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and radio
wavelengths. The featured sharp image of M77 was taken by the Hubble
Space Telescope. The image shows details of the spiral's winding spiral
arms as traced by obscuring red dust clouds and blue star clusters, all
circling the galaxy's bright white luminous center.

Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: black hole trip
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 3
The illustration shows a structured orange band stretching horizontally
across the imager. Connected in the middle is the Milky Way Galaxy
curving up to the top of the frame. A second image of the orange band
runs like a sine wave across the lower half of the frame, while a
second image of the Milky Way galaxy appears just above it. Please see
the explanation for more detailed information.

Visualization: Near a Black Hole and Disk
Illustration Credit: NASA's GSFC, J. Schnittman & B. Powell; Text:
Francis Reddy (U. Maryland, NASA's GSFC)

Explanation: What would it look like to plunge into a monster black
hole? This image from a supercomputer visualization shows the entire
sky as seen from a simulated camera plunging toward a
4-million-solar-mass black hole, similar to the one at the center of
our galaxy. The camera lies about 16 million kilometers from the black
holeCÇÖs event horizon and is moving inward at 62% the speed of light.
Thanks to gravityCÇÖs funhouse effects, the starry band of the Milky Way
appears both as a compact loop at the top of this view and as a
secondary image stretching across the bottom. Move the cursor over the
image for additional explanations. Visualizations like this allow
astronomers to explore black holes in ways not otherwise possible.

Tomorrow's picture: galaxy in the furnace
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 4

Galaxies in the Furnace
Image Credit & Copyright: Simone Curzi and the ShaRA Team

Explanation: An example of violence on a cosmic scale, enormous
elliptical galaxy NGC 1316 lies about 75 million light-years away
toward Fornax, the southern constellation of the Furnace. Investigating
the startling sight, astronomers suspect the giant galaxy of colliding
with smaller neighbor NGC 1317 seen just right of the large galaxy's
center, producing far flung star streams in loops and shells. Light
from their close encounter would have reached Earth some 100 million
years ago. In the sharp telescopic image, the central regions of NGC
1316 and NGC 1317 appear separated by over 100,000 light-years. Complex
dust lanes visible within also indicate that NGC 1316 is itself the
result of a merger of galaxies in the distant past. Found on the
outskirts of the Fornax galaxy cluster, NGC 1316 is known as Fornax A.
One of the visually brightest of the Fornax cluster galaxies it is one
of the strongest and largest celestial radio sources with radio
emission extending well beyond this one degree wide field-of-view.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 5

The Bipolar Jets of KX Andromedae
Image Credit & Copyright: Tim Schaeffer and the Deep Sky Collective

Explanation: Blasting outward from variable star KX Andromedae, these
stunning bipolar jets are 19 light-years long. Recently discovered,
they are revealed in unprecedented detail in this deep telescopic image
centered on KX And and composed from over 692 hours of combined image
data. In fact, KX And is spectroscopically found to be an interacting
binary star system consisting of a bright, hot B-type star with a
swollen cool giant star as its co-orbiting, close companion. The
stellar material from the cool giant star is likely being transferred
to the hot B-type star through an accretion disk, with spectacular
symmetric jets driven outward perpendicular to the disk itself. The
known distance to KX And of 2,500 light-years, angular size of the
jets, and estimated inclination of the accretion disk lead to the size
estimate for each jet of an astonishing 19 light-years.

Free APOD Lecture in Phoenix: Wednesday, December 10 at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: remember where you parked
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 6

Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater
Apollo 17 Crew, NASA

Explanation: Fifty three years ago, in December of 1972, Apollo 17
astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent about 75 hours on
the Moon exploring the Taurus-Littrow valley, while colleague Ronald
Evans orbited overhead. This snapshot from another world was taken by
Cernan as he and Schmitt roamed the lunar valley's floor. The image
shows Schmitt next to the lunar rover parked at the southeast rim of
Shorty Crater. That location is near the spot where geologist Schmitt
discovered orange lunar soil. The Apollo 17 crew returned with 110
kilograms of rock and soil samples, more than was returned from any of
the other lunar landing sites. And for now, Cernan and Schmitt are the
last to walk on the Moon.

Tomorrow's picture: the spectrum of the Sun
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 9
A starfield is shown with a brown and gold tinted dust structures in
front of a glowing blue gas background. Please see the explanation for
more detailed information.

The Heart of the Soul Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Nicola Bugin

Explanation: This cosmic close-up looks deep inside the Soul Nebula.
The dark and brooding dust clouds outlined by bright ridges of glowing
gas are cataloged as IC 1871. About 25 light-years across, the
telescopic field of view spans only a small part of the much larger
Heart and Soul nebulae. At an estimated distance of 6,500 light-years,
the star-forming complex lies within the Perseus spiral arm of the
Milky Way, seen in planet Earth's skies toward the constellation of the
Queen of Aethiopia (Cassiopeia). An example of triggered star
formation, the dense star-forming clouds of IC 1871 are themselves
sculpted by the intense winds and radiation of the region's massive
young stars. This color image adopts a palette made popular in Hubble
images of star-forming regions.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 10

The Horsehead Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: George Chatzifrantzis

Explanation: Sculpted by stellar winds and radiation, this dusty
interstellar molecular cloud has by chance has assumed an immediately
recognizable shape. Fittingly known as The Horsehead Nebula, it lies
some 1,500 light-years distant, embedded in the vast Orion cloud
complex. About five light-years "tall," the dark cloud is cataloged as
Barnard 33, first identified on a photographic plate taken in the late
19th century. B33 is visible primarily because its obscuring dust is
silhouetted against the glow of emission nebula IC 434. Hubble space
telescope images from the early 21st century find young stars forming
within B33. Of course, the magnificent interstellar cloud will slowly
shift its apparent shape over the next few million years. But for now
the Horsehead Nebula is a rewarding though difficult object to view
with small telescopes from planet Earth.

Tomorrow's picture: the spectrum of the Sun
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 11

Galaxies in the River
Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander

Explanation: Large galaxies grow by eating small ones. Even our own
galaxy engages in a sort of galactic cannibalism, absorbing small
galaxies that are too close and are captured by the Milky Way's
gravity. In fact, the practice is common in the universe and
illustrated by this striking pair of interacting galaxies from the
banks of the southern constellation Eridanus, The River. Located over
50 million light years away, the large, distorted spiral NGC 1532 is
seen locked in a gravitational struggle with dwarf galaxy NGC 1531, a
struggle the smaller galaxy will eventually lose. Seen nearly edge-on,
in this sharp image spiral NGC 1532 spans about 100,000 light-years.
The NGC 1532/1531 pair is thought to be similar to the well-studied
system of face-on spiral and small companion known as M51.

Tomorrow's picture: fox fires
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 12

Northern Fox Fires
Image Credit & Copyright: Dennis Lehtonen

Explanation: In a Finnish myth, when an arctic fox runs so fast that
its bushy tail brushes the mountains, flaming sparks are cast into the
heavens creating the northern lights. In fact the Finnish word
"revontulet", a name for the aurora borealis or northern lights, can be
translated as fire fox. So that evocative myth took on a special
significance for the photographer of this northern night skyscape from
Finnish Lapland near Kilpisjarvi Lake. The snowy scene is illuminated
by moonlight. Saana, an iconic fell or mountain of Lapland, rises at
the right in the background. But as the beautiful nothern lights danced
overhead, the wild fire fox in the foreground enthusiastically ran
around the photographer and his equipment, making it difficult to
capture in this lucky single shot.

Tomorrow's picture: ocean of storms
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 13

Orion and the Ocean of Storms
Image Credit: NASA, Artemis 1

Explanation: On December 5, 2022, a camera on board the uncrewed Orion
spacecraft captured this view as Orion approached its return powered
flyby of the Moon. Beyond one of Orion's extended solar arrays lies
dark, smooth, terrain along the western edge of the Oceanus
Procellarum. Prominent on the lunar nearside Oceanus Procellarum, the
Ocean of Storms, is the largest of the Moon's lava-flooded maria. The
lunar terminator, the shadow line between lunar night and day, runs
along the left of this frame. The 41 kilometer diameter crater Marius
is top center, with ray crater Kepler peeking in at the edge, just
right of the solar array wing. Kepler's bright rays extend to the north
and west, reaching the dark-floored Marius. By December 11, 2022 the
Orion spacecraft had returned to its home world. The historic Artemis 1
mission ended with Orion's successful splashdown in planet Earth's
water-flooded Pacific Ocean.

Watch: The Geminid Meteor Shower
Tomorrow's picture: flyby Ganymede and Jupiter
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 14

Juno Flyby of Ganymede and Jupiter
Video Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SWRI, MSSS;
Animation: Koji Kuramura, Gerald Eichst+ñdt, Mike Stetson; Music:
Vangelis

Explanation: What would it be like to fly over the largest moon in the
Solar System? In 2021, the robotic Juno spacecraft flew past Jupiter's
huge moon Ganymede and took images that have been digitally constructed
into a detailed flyby. As the featured video begins, Juno swoops over
the two-toned surface of the 2,000-km wide moon, revealing an icy alien
landscape filled with grooves and craters. The grooves are likely
caused by shifting surface plates, while the craters are caused by
violent impacts. Continuing on in its orbit, Juno then performed its
34th close pass over Jupiter's clouds. The digitally-constructed video
shows numerous swirling clouds in the north, colorful planet-circling
zones and bands across the middle -- featuring several white-oval
clouds from the String of Pearls, and finally more swirling clouds in
the south.

Tomorrow's picture: andromeda sprite
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 15
A picturesque winter landscape is seen before a dark but busy sky. A
stream and a house are visible in the foreground, while snow-capped
mountains are seen on the far horizon. In the sky are many stars and
many streaks caused by meteors. Also some red gaseous nebulas are
visible in the sky. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Gemini Meteors over Snow Capped Mountains
Image Credit & Copyright: Tom+í+í Slovinsk+'

Explanation: Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of
direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of
Gemini. That is why the major meteor shower in December is known as the
Geminids -- because shower meteors all appear to come from a radiant
toward Gemini. Three dimensionally, however, sand-sized debris expelled
from the unusual asteroid 3200 Phaethon follows a well-defined orbit
about our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is
superposed in front of the constellation of Gemini. Therefore, when
Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris appears
in Gemini. Featured here is a composite of many images taken over the
past few days through dark skies from Slovakia and capturing the
snow-covered peaks of the Belianske Tatra mountains Numerous bright
meteor streaks from the Geminids meteor shower are visible. Orion is
visible above the horizon, while the bright star nearest the radiant is
Castor.

APOD Review: RJN's Night Sky Network Lecture
Tomorrow's picture: tree sprites
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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 16
A dark landscape is back lit by a thunderstorm in the distance. A lone
tree is visible near the center. Above the tree are two sky icons: the
Andromeda Galaxy on the left and bright red sprites on the right.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Andromeda and Sprites over Australia
Image Credit & Copyright: JJ Rao

Explanation: WhatCÇÖs happening over that tree? Two very different
things. On the left is the Andromeda galaxy, an object that is older
than humanity and will last billions of years into the future.
Andromeda (M31) is similar in size and shape to our own Milky Way
Galaxy. On the right is a red sprite, a type of lightning that lasts a
fraction of a second and occurs above violent thunderstorms. Red
sprites were verified as real atmospheric phenomena only about 35 years
ago. The tree in the center is a boab, which may live for as long as a
thousand years. Boab trees grow naturally in Australia and Africa and
are known for being able to store large amounts of water: up to 100,000
liters. The featured image was captured last month near Derby in
Western Australia.

Tomorrow's picture: Soul Queen
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 17
A starfield surrounds the edges of a large nebula. The nebula, itself
full of stars, has a blue glowing interior and an orange periphery
dotted with dust pillars. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

W5: The Soul Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeffrey Horne

Explanation: Stars are forming in the Soul of the Queen of Aethopia.
More specifically, a large star forming region called the Soul Nebula
can be found in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia, whom
Greek mythology credits as the vain wife of a King who long ago ruled
lands surrounding the upper Nile river. Also known as Westerhout 5
(W5), the Soul Nebula houses several open clusters of stars, ridges and
pillars darkened by cosmic dust, and huge evacuated bubbles formed by
the winds of young massive stars. Located about 6,500 light years away,
the Soul Nebula spans about 100 light years and is usually imaged next
to its celestial neighbor the Heart Nebula (IC 1805). The featured
image, taken from near Nashville, Tennessee, USA, is a composite of 234
hours of exposures made in different colors: red as emitted by hydrogen
gas, yellow as emitted by sulfur, and blue as emitted by oxygen.

Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: Jupiter and the Geminids
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 18

Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini
Image Credit & Copyright: David Cruz

Explanation: Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant, is the
brightest celestial beacon at the center of this composite night
skyscape. The scene was constructed by selecting the 40 exposures
containing meteors from about 500 exposures made on the nights of
December 13 and 14, near peak activity for this year's annual Geminid
meteor shower. With each selected exposure registered in the night sky
above Alentejo, Portugal, planet Earth, it does look like the meteors
are streaming away from Jupiter. But the apparent radiant of the
Geminid meteors is actually closer to bright star Castor, in the
shower's eponymous constellation Gemini. In this frame that's just a
little above and left of the Solar System's most massive planet. Still,
the parent body of Geminid meteors is known to be rocky, near-Earth
asteroid 3200 Phaethon. And the orbit of Phaethon itself is influenced
by the gravitational attraction exerted by massive Jupiter, in concert
with planets of the inner Solar System.

Tomorrow's picture: cathedrals on the moon
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
written by a professional astronomer.

2025 December 19

Long Shadows of the Montes Caucasus
Image Credit & Copyright: Guy Bardon

Explanation: When the Moon is at its first quarter phase, the Sun rises
along the Montes Caucasus as seen from the lunar surface. The lunar
mountain range casts the magnificent, spire-like shadows in this
telescopic view from planet Earth, looking along the lunar terminator
or the boundary between lunar night and day. Named for Earth's own
Caucasus Mountains, the rugged lunar Montes Caucasus peaks, up to 6
kilometers high, are located between the smooth Mare Imbrium to the
west and Mare Serenitatis to the east. Still mostly in shadow in this
first quarter lunarscape, at the left (west) impact craters reflect the
light of the rising Sun along their outer, eastern crater walls.

Tomorrow's picture: the Sun's tattoo
__________________________________________________________________

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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