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Planet Earth at Twilight 2024-12-27 No sudden, sharp boundary marks the passage of day into night in this gorgeous view of ocean and clouds over our fair planet Earth. Instead, the shadow line or terminator is diffuse and shows the gradual transition to darkness we experience as twilight. With the Sun illuminating the scene from the right, the cloud tops reflect gently reddened sunlight filtered through the dusty troposphere, the lowest layer of the planet's nurturing atmosphere. A clear high altitude layer, visible along the dayside's upper edge, scatters blue sunlight and fades into the blackness of space. This picture was taken from the International Space Station orbiting at an altitude of 211 nautical miles. Of course from home, you can check out the Earth Now.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Looks Back While Climbing Slippery Slope On its way up the side of Jezero Crater, the agency’s latest Red Planet off-roader peers all the way back to its landing site and scopes the path ahead.   NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is negotiating a steeply sloping route... 6 min read #news

#Picture_of_the_Day 🤖 Rover: #Perseverance Earth date: 2021-02-19 Sol: 1 Camera: Rover Up-Look Camera

Одна из немногих удивительных фотографий от ровера, спуск на Марс! Самый первый сол марсианской жизни у ровера

The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant 2024-09-18 New stars are born from the remnants of dead stars. The gaseous remnant of the gravitational collapse and subsequent death of a very massive star in our Milky Way created the G296.5+10.0 supernova remnant, of which the featured Mermaid Nebula is part. Also known as the Betta Fish Nebula, the Mermaid Nebula makes up part of an unusual subclass of supernova remnants that are two-sided and nearly circular. Originally discovered in X-rays, the filamentary nebula is a frequently studied source also in radio and gamma-ray light. The blue color visible here originates from doubly ionized oxygen (OIII), while the deep red is emitted by hydrogen gas. The nebula's mermaid-like shape has proven to be useful for measurements of the interstellar magnetic field. Copyright: Neil Corke; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)

Melotte 15 in the Heart Nebula 2024-09-17 Cosmic clouds form fantastic shapes in the central regions of emission nebula IC 1805. The clouds are sculpted by stellar winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the nebula's newborn star cluster, Melotte 15. About 1.5 million years young, the cluster stars are scattered in this colorful skyscape, along with dark dust clouds in silhouette against glowing atomic gas. A composite of narrowband and broadband telescopic images, the view spans about 15 light-years and includes emission from ionized hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms mapped to green, red, and blue hues in the popular Hubble Palette. Wider field images reveal that IC 1805's simpler, overall outline suggests its popular name - the Heart Nebula. IC 1805 is located about 7,500 light years away toward the boastful constellation Cassiopeia. Copyright: Richard McInnis

NASA Scientists Re-Create Mars ‘Spiders’ in a Lab for First Time Tests on Earth appear to confirm how the Red Planet’s spider-shaped geologic formations are carved by carbon dioxide. Since discovering them in 2003 via images from orbiters, scientists have marveled at spider-like shapes sprawled across the southern hemisphere of Mars.... 5 min read #news

NASA’s Hubble, MAVEN Help Solve the Mystery of Mars’ Escaping Water Mars was once a very wet planet as is evident in its surface geological features. Scientists know that over the last 3 billion years, at least some water went deep underground, but what happened to the rest? Now, NASA’s Hubble... 6 min read #news

NGC 6995: The Bat Nebula 2024-09-04 Can you see the bat? It haunts this cosmic close-up of the eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. While the Veil is roughly circular in shape and covers nearly 3 degrees on the sky toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), NGC 6995, known informally as the Bat Nebula, spans only 1/2 degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12 light-years at the Veil's estimated distance, a reassuring 1,400 light-years from planet Earth. In the composite of image data recorded through narrow band filters, emission from hydrogen atoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms shown in hues of blue. Of course, in the western part of the Veil lies another seasonal apparition: the Witch's Broom Nebula. Teachers & Students: Ideas for using APOD in the classroom Copyright: Mike Taivalmaa

A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun 2024-09-02 Why is there a triangle hovering over the Sun? Although the shape is unusual, the type of structure is not: it is part of an evolving solar prominence. Looping magnetic fields on the Sun channel the flow of energetic particles, sometimes holding glowing gaseous structures aloft for months. A prominence glows brightly because it contains particularly hot, dense, or opaque solar plasma. The surprising triangular structure occurred last week. Larger than our Earth, the iconic prominence was imaged by several solar photographers and documented by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory to form and violently dissipate in about a day. The featured image was captured in a color of red light emitted strongly by hydrogen. Below, solar fibrils carpet the Sun's chromosphere, while the background sky is so faint in comparison that no stars are visible. Our Sun's surface has been quite active this year. Copyright: Andrea Vanoni

The Moon Dressed Like Saturn 2024-09-01 Why does Saturn appear so big? It doesn't -- what is pictured are foreground clouds on Earth crossing in front of the Moon. The Moon shows a slight crescent phase with most of its surface visible by reflected Earthlight, known as Da Vinci glow. The Sun directly illuminates the brightly lit lunar crescent from the bottom, which means that the Sun must be below the horizon and so the image was taken before sunrise. This double take-inducing picture was captured on 2019 December 24, two days before the Moon slid in front of the Sun to create a solar eclipse. In the foreground, lights from small Guatemalan towns are visible behind the huge volcano Pacaya. Your Sky Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995) Copyright: Francisco Sojuel

Star Factory Messier 17 2024-08-29 A nearby star factory known as Messier 17 lies some 5,500 light-years away in the nebula-rich constellation Sagittarius. At that distance, this 1.5 degree wide field-of-view would span about 150 light-years. In the sharp color composite image faint details of the region's gas and dust clouds are highlighted with narrowband image data against a backdrop of central Milky Way stars. The stellar winds and energetic radiation from hot, massive stars already formed from M17's stock of cosmic gas and dust have slowly carved away at the remaining interstellar material, producing the nebula's cavernous appearance and the undulating shapes within. A popular stop on telescopic tours of the cosmos, M17 is also known as the Omega or the Swan Nebula. Copyright: Gaetan Maxant

Tulip Nebula and Black Hole Cygnus X-1 2024-08-28 When can you see a black hole, a tulip, and a swan all at once? At night -- if the timing is right, and if your telescope is pointed in the right direction. The complex and beautiful Tulip Nebula blossoms about 8,000 light-years away toward the constellation of Cygnus the Swan. Ultraviolet radiation from young energetic stars at the edge of the Cygnus OB3 association, including O star HDE 227018, ionizes the atoms and powers the emission from the Tulip Nebula. Stewart Sharpless cataloged this nearly 70 light-years across reddish glowing cloud of interstellar gas and dust in 1959, as Sh2-101. Also in the featured field of view is the black hole Cygnus X-1, which to be a microquasar because it is one of strongest X-ray sources in planet Earth's sky. Blasted by powerful jets from a lurking black hole, its fainter bluish curved shock front is only faintly visible beyond the cosmic Tulip's petals, near the right side of the frame. Back to School? Learn Science with NASA Copyright: Anirudh Shastry

Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus 2024-08-25 Do underground oceans vent through canyons on Saturn's moon Enceladus? Long features dubbed tiger stripes are known to be spewing ice from the moon's icy interior into space, creating a cloud of fine ice particles over the moon's South Pole and creating Saturn's mysterious E-ring. Evidence for this has come from the robot Cassini spacecraft that orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. Pictured here, a high resolution image of Enceladus is shown from a close flyby. The unusual surface features dubbed tiger stripes are visible in false-color blue. Why Enceladus is active remains a mystery, as the neighboring moon Mimas, approximately the same size, appears quite dead. An analysis of ejected ice grains has yielded evidence that complex organic molecules exist inside Enceladus. These large carbon-rich molecules bolster -- but do not prove -- that oceans under Enceladus' surface could contain life. Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator

Supernova Remnant CTA 1 2024-08-23 There is a quiet pulsar at the heart of CTA 1. The supernova remnant was discovered as a source of emission at radio wavelengths by astronomers in 1960 and since identified as the result of the death explosion of a massive star. But no radio pulses were detected from the expected pulsar, the rotating neutron star remnant of the massive star's collapsed core. Seen about 10,000 years after the initial supernova explosion, the interstellar debris cloud is faint at optical wavelengths. CTA 1's visible wavelength emission from still expanding shock fronts is revealed in this deep telescopic image, a frame that spans about 2 degrees across a starfield in the northern constellation of Cepheus. While no pulsar has since been found at radio wavelengths, in 2008 the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected pulsed emission from CTA 1, identifying the supernova remnant's rotating neutron star. The source has been recognized as the first in a growing class of pulsars that are quiet at radio wavelengths but pulse in high-energy gamma-rays. Copyright: Thomas Lelu

The Dark Tower in Scorpius 2024-08-22 In silhouette against a crowded star field along the tail of the arachnological constellation Scorpius, this dusty cosmic cloud evokes for some the image of an ominous dark tower. In fact, monstrous clumps of dust and molecular gas collapsing to form stars may well lurk within the dark nebula, a structure that spans almost 40 light-years across this gorgeous telescopic portrait. A cometary globule, the swept-back cloud is shaped by intense ultraviolet radiation from the OB association of very hot stars in NGC 6231, off the upper right corner of the scene. That energetic ultraviolet light also powers the globule's bordering reddish glow of hydrogen gas. Hot stars embedded in the dust can be seen as bluish reflection nebulae. This dark tower and associated nebulae are about 5,000 light-years away. Growing Gallery: Moon Eclipses Saturn in August 2024 Copyright: Mike Selby

IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula 2024-08-19 Inside the Cocoon Nebula is a newly developing cluster of stars. Cataloged as IC 5146, the beautiful nebula is nearly 15 light-years wide. Soaring high in northern summer night skies, it's located some 4,000 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus). Like other star forming regions, it stands out in red, glowing, hydrogen gas excited by young, hot stars, and dust-reflected starlight at the edge of an otherwise invisible molecular cloud. In fact, the bright star found near the center of this nebula is likely only a few hundred thousand years old, powering the nebular glow as it clears out a cavity in the molecular cloud's star forming dust and gas. A 48-hour long integration resulted in this exceptionally deep color view tracing tantalizing features within and surrounding the dusty stellar nursery. Copyright: Luis Romero Ventura

NASA’s Perseverance Rover to Begin Long Climb Up Martian Crater Rim After 2½ years exploring Jezero Crater’s floor and river delta, the rover will ascend to an area where it will search for more discoveries that could rewrite Mars’ history. NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will soon begin a monthslong ascent up... 5 min read #news

#Picture_of_the_Day 🤖 Rover: #Curiosity Earth date: 2012-09-26 Sol: 50 Camera: Mast Camera

NASA Trains Machine Learning Algorithm for Mars Sample Analysis When a robotic rover lands on another world, scientists have a limited amount of time to collect data from the troves of explorable material, because of short mission durations and the length of time to complete complex experiments. That’s why... 6 min read #news