Enhanced version of the Nasa astronomy picture of the day website
The Spider and the Fly
Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The spider-shaped gas cloud in the image center is actually an...
Auroral Hummingbird over Norway
Is this the largest hummingbird ever? Although it may look like a popular fluttering nectarivore, what is pictured is actually a beautifully detailed and colorful aurora, complete with rays...
Milky Way over the Australian Pinnacles
What strange world is this? Earth. In the foreground of the featured image are the Pinnacles, unusual rock spires in Nambung National Park in Western Australia. Made of ancient sea shells...
A Conjunction of Crescents
A waxing crescent Moon and a waning crescent Venus are found at opposite corners of this twilight telephoto field of view. The close conjunction of the two brightest celestial beacons in planet...
LEDA 1313424: The Bullseye Galaxy
The giant galaxy cataloged as LEDA 1313424 is about two and a half times the size of our own Milky Way. Its remarkable appearance in this recently released Hubble Space Telescope image strongly...
IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula
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...
Comet G3 ATLAS Setting over a Chilean Hill
Where is Comet ATLAS going? In the featured time-lapse video, the comet is not itself moving very much, but the Earth's rotation makes it appear to be setting over a hill. The Comet C/2024 G3...
Anticrepuscular Rays: A Rainbow Fan over Spain
Yes, but can your rainbow do this? Late in the day, the Sun set as usual toward the west. However, on this day, the more interesting display was 180 degrees around -- toward the east. There, not...
Wolf-Rayet Star 124: Stellar Wind Machine
Some stars explode in slow motion. Rare, massive Wolf-Rayet stars are so tumultuous and hot that they are slowly disintegrating right before our telescopes. Glowing gas globs each typically over...
Comet G3 ATLAS Disintegrates
What's happening to Comet G3 ATLAS? After passing near the Sun in mid-January, the head of the comet has become dimmer and dimmer. By late January, Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) had become a headless...
Nacreous Clouds over Sweden
Vivid and lustrous, wafting iridescent waves of color wash across this skyscape from northern Sweden. Known as nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds, they are rare. But their unforgettable...
The Variable Nebula NGC 2261
The interstellar cloud of dust and gas captured in this sharp telescopic snapshot is seen to change its appearance noticeably over periods as short as a few weeks. Discovered over 200 years ago and...
Hydrogen Clouds of M33
Gorgeous spiral galaxy Messier 33 seems to have more than its fair share of glowing hydrogen gas. A prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies, M33 is also known as the Triangulum Galaxy and...
Dust Shells around WR 140 from Webb
What are those strange rings? Rich in dust, the rings are likely 3D shells -- but how they were created remains a topic of research. Where they were created is well known: in a binary star system...
Comet G3 ATLAS over Uruguay
Comets can be huge. When far from the Sun, a comet's size usually refers to its hard nucleus of ice and rock, which typically spans a few kilometers -- smaller than even a small moon. When nearing...
Pleiades over Half Dome
Stars come in bunches. The most famous bunch of stars on the sky is the Pleiades, a bright cluster that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. The Pleiades lies only about 450 light years away,...
The Many Tails of Comet G3 ATLAS
Why does this comet have so many tails? C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) has developed several long and intricate tails visible from Earth's southern hemisphere over the past two weeks. Many observers...
Stardust in the Perseus Molecular Cloud
Clouds of stardust drift through this deep skyscape, across the Perseus molecular cloud some 850 light-years away. Dusty nebulae reflecting light from embedded young stars stand out in the nearly 4...
Comet G3 ATLAS: a Tail and a Telescope
Comet C/2024 G3 ATLAS has made a dramatic appearance in planet Earth's skies. A visitor from the distant Oort Cloud, the comet reached its perihelion on January 13. On January 19, the bright comet...
NGC 7814: Little Sombrero
Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this cosmic expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. NGC 7814 is centered in the sharp field of view that...