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.

2026 February 15
An astronaut is seen hovering over the Earth. In the top part of the
image, the astronaut is seen against the darkness of space. In the
lower part of the image, the Earth is bright blue with white clouds.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

To Fly Free in Space
Image Credit: NASA, STS-41B

Explanation: What would it be like to fly free in space? About 100
meters from the cargo bay of a space shuttle, Bruce McCandless II was
living the dream -- floating farther out than anyone had ever been
before. Guided by a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), astronaut
McCandless, pictured, was floating free in space. During Space Shuttle
mission 41-B in 1984, McCandless and fellow NASA astronaut Robert
Stewart were the first to experience such an "untethered space walk".
The MMU worked by shooting jets of nitrogen and was used to help deploy
and retrieve satellites. With a mass over 140 kilograms, an MMU is
heavy on Earth, but, like everything, is weightless when drifting in
orbit. The MMU was later replaced with the SAFER backpack propulsion
unit.

Tomorrow's picture: unexplained shocks
__________________________________________________________________

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.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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.

2026 February 16
A star field shows colorful pill-shaped nebula extending from the
bottom left toward the upper right. Colors include, from the outside
in, red, green, and blue. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Unexplained Shocks Around a White Dwarf Star
Image Credit: ESO, K. I+ékiewicz & S. Scaringi et al.;
Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Explanation: How is RXJ0528+2838 creating such shock waves? A recently
discovered white dwarf star, the farther left of the two largest white
spots, RXJ0528+2838, was found 730 light-years away from Earth. Most
stars, when done fusing nuclei in their cores for energy, become red
giant stars, the cores of which live on as faint dense white dwarfs
that slowly cool down for the rest of time. White dwarfs are so dense
that the only thing that stops them from collapsing further is quantum
mechanics. In about 5 billion years, our Sun will become a white dwarf,
too. The featured image, obtained with the European Southern
ObservatoryCÇÖs Very Large Telescope, shows unexplained bow shocks around
RXJ0528+2838, similar to the bow wave of water around a fast-moving
ship. Astronomers donCÇÖt yet know what is powering these shocks, which
have existed for at least 1,000 years. The red, green and blue colors
represent trace amounts of glowing hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen gas.

Open Science: Browse 3,900+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code
Library
Tomorrow's picture: passing comet
__________________________________________________________________

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.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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.

2026 February 17
A star field shows a bright comet with its head on the lower left and
tails extending toward the upper right. A background galaxy is visible
on the far right. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Tails of Comet Wierzcho+ø
Image Credit & Copyright: Jos+¬ J. Chamb+|;
Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Explanation: Some comets are regular guests of our solar neighborhood;
others come by only once, never to return. We wonCÇÖt have another chance
to see Comet C/2024 E1 (Wierzcho+ø), 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. Comet
Wierzcho+ø is today near its closest approach to the Earth, passing
roughly the same distance from the Earth as is the Sun. The featured
30-minute exposure was taken last week in Chile and shows a 5-degree
long ion tail as well as three shorter dust tails. The green hue of the
coma comes from the breakdown of dicarbon molecules by sunlight, but
that process does not last long enough to also tinge the tails. On the
far right lies a spiral galaxy far in the distance: NGC 300.

Tomorrow's picture: cradle alpha
__________________________________________________________________

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.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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.

2026 February 18
A starfield is shown filled with red glowing gas. On the right is a
blue-glowing complex nebula, while on the left there is a long
encircling arc of red gas. Please see the explanation for more detailed
information.

Orion's Cradle
Image Credit & Copyright: Piotr Czerski

Explanation: Cradled in red-glowing hydrogen gas, stars are being born
in Orion. These stellar nurseries lie at the edge of the giant Orion
molecular cloud complex, some 1,500 light-years away. This detailed
view spans about 12 degrees across the center of the well-known
constellation, with the Great Orion Nebula, the closest large
star-forming region, visible toward the lower right. The deep mosaic
also includes, near the top center, the Flame Nebula and the Horsehead
Nebula. Image data acquired with a hydrogen-alpha filter adds other
remarkable features to this wide-angle cosmic vista: pervasive tendrils
of energized atomic hydrogen gas and portions of the surrounding
Barnard's Loop. While the Orion Nebula and many stars in Orion are easy
to see with the unaided eye, emission from the extensive interstellar
gas is faint and much harder to record, even in telescopic views of the
nebula-rich complex.

Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (after
1995)
Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

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.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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.

2026 February 19

IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Dane Vetter

Explanation: Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory,
flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful,
symmetric spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In
fact, dwarf galaxy IC 2574 shows clear evidence of intense star forming
activity in its telltale reddish regions of glowing hydrogen gas. Just
as in spiral galaxies, the turbulent star-forming regions in IC 2574
are churned by stellar winds and supernova explosions spewing material
into the galaxy's interstellar medium and triggering further star
formation. A mere 12 million light-years distant, IC 2574 is part of
the M81 group of galaxies, seen toward the northern constellation Ursa
Major. Also known as Coddington's Nebula, the faint but intriguing
island universe is about 50,000 light-years across, discovered by
American astronomer Edwin Coddington in 1898.

Tomorrow's picture: in the dark
__________________________________________________________________

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.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

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.

2026 February 20
A starfield with a light, orange-tinged background has a dark nebula
that looks like a flying ghost visible near the middle. Please see the
explanation for more detailed information.

B93: A Dark Interstellar Ghost
Image Credit & Copyright: Christian Bertincourt; Text: Keighley
Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

Explanation: "A ghost in the Milky WayCǪCÇØ says Christian Bertincourt,
the astrophotographer behind this striking image of Barnard 93 (B93).
The 93rd entry in BarnardCÇÖs Catalogue of Dark Nebulae, B93 lies within
the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud (Messier 24), where its darkness
stands in stark contrast to bright stars and gas in the background. In
some ways, B93 is really like a ghost, because it contains gas and dust
that was dispersed by the deaths of stars, like supernovas. B93 appears
as a dark void not because it is empty, but because its dust blocks the
light emitted by more distant stars and glowing gas. Like other dark
nebulas, some gas from B93, if dense and massive enough, will
eventually gravitationally condense to form new stars. If so, then once
these stars ignite, B93 will transform from a dark ghost into a
brilliant cradle of newborn stars.

Tomorrow's picture: open space
__________________________________________________________________

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.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)