Free Falling

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Astronaut Bruce McCandless II testing the Manned Maneuvering Unit during a mission of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1984. The closest we came to a Robert McCall orbital work site?

Dream Mighty Things

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a color anaglyph of the Apollo 17 Lunar Module and Lunar Roving Vehicle in the Taurus-Littrow valley on the Moon. Yes, once we visited other worlds.

Reds and Blues

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 78 in the constellation of Orion. Embedded within are hot young stars, clusters of matter that may become stars and even a separate variable nebula. A nice place for even modest "amateur" instruments to explore this time of the year.

Star Stuff

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows recycling on the cosmic scale.

Horsehead Closeup

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a closeup look at the Horsehead Nebula in the constellation of Orion. This is one of the hardest backyard objects for me, requiring both dark and clear skies plus a special filter in order to help highlight the object.

Grand Spiral

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a detailed look at NGC 1232 in the constellation of Antlia.

Green Flash

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a spectacular green-tinted Geminid over the Arctic skies of Russia. Beware the Cometeers!

Beautiful Plumage

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the wonderful plume left by a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from the USAF's Vandenberg launch site in California.

The Children of Phaethon

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Earth-crossing asteroid Phaethon and the traces of two Geminid meteors. It's generally thought that the Geminids are debris from and about that asteroid.

High Radiant

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a time lapse showing the Geminids. Notice how they all seem to come from a central point (the radiant)? In this case, the radiant is centered about the constellation of Gemini, giving the shower it's name. Where do "showers" come from? Asteroids and comets that cross the orbit of the Earth.

Superimposition

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the solstice Sun against the background of the winter Milky Way.

Microcleansing

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video showing how one washes one's hair in microgravity. Personal hygiene is complicated in that environment (and leads to wider issues from plumbing to supplies to recycling). Something mundane can have wide-ranging implications for an extended mission (long term stays on the Moon or a journey to Mars).

Polar Spiral

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a view generated from images provided by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (still going!) and ESA's Mars Express. "Dry ice" (frozen carbon dioxide) and "water ice" (what you are more

Earthlike is not Earth

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows (hypothetical) images of the Kepler-90 planetary system compared to (actual) images of our system. How "earthlike" are any of the bodies in the Kepler-90 system? Could any support life?

Far Einstein

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows gravitational lensing (an "Einstein Cross") spotted in a spiral galaxy.

Cold Shower

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings another image of the Geminid meteor shower. The Canadian Rockies are the scene where four infalling Geminids were captured in rapid succession.

By Gemini!

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a winter falling of Geminids over MUSER, a radio telescope located in Inner Mongolia, China.

Space Skimmer

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video taken from the JunoCam and other instruments on the Juno spacecraft currently surveying Jupiter. What a view!

Falling Falling

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a meteor storm over the skies of Mongolia. Up and down mix as the falling stars are reflected back from a lake surface.

The Milky Way's Attic

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows some of the sights you can see on clear nights this winter in the Northern Hemisphere.

Close Approach to the Iron World

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video made up of images from the Mercury MESSENGER vehicle. What would a flyover of the iron planet be like?

Put It on the Bucket List

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows auroral activity over Norway. Zounds!

Subtle Mixes

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows dusty nebula covering eight degrees of the sky. Protostars, molecules of all sorts and sheer beauty all in one.

Perigee Moon

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the December "super moon" over the Alpine Mountains.

2017 Shadows

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us lunar and solar eclipses of the year. There was more than that "Great American"!

Active Pillar

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Herbig-Haro 666, a young (and energetic star) surrounded by dust pillar.

Earth and Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us a halo around the Moon and Saturn in the Sky. Below Saturn? Oh, just a volcano.

New Sun

How to approach Gene Wolfe's (possibly) best-known work, The Book of the New Sun? Matt Keeley has some suggestions. How to approach Gene Wolfe? (Time to roll out this classic by Neil Gaiman.)

(And take a look at these other entries on Tor Dot Com by Matthew Keeley and Theresa DeLucci.)

Lunar Cycle

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video taken by the Galileo vehicle on one of its gravity-assist passages past Earth on the way to Jupiter. The video shows the Moon's journey around our Earth.

On the Rise

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video that shows the full Moon rising over New Zealand at Mount Victoria.

Stereo Messier

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a stereo image of the Messier craters as imaged by Apollo 11. Get out your classic red/blue glasses to make the image "pop"!

Fish and Continent

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day covers two emission nebula: The North American Nebula (NGC 7000) and The Pelican Nebula (IC 5070). The collected regions of gas and dust cover over 150 light years (6 degrees) of the sky.

Pinwheel

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 33, the Triangulum or Pinwheel Galaxy, in the constellation of (surprise) Triangulum.

Great Nebula

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us my favorite winter observing object, certainly not as I have ever seen it! Messier 42, The Great Nebula of Orion.

Jovian Superstorms

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us an image from the Juno orbiter, currently on a (alas) short-term mission around Jupiter. What a picture!

Unsettled Season

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video showing the recent hurricane season.

Seconds

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video depicting human existence. Timespan: a few beats of the cosmic heart.

Plane Crossing

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day crosses from one horizon to the other.

Stopover at Shorty

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Apollo 17 crew working at Shorty Crater. Why haven't we been back?

Gems of the Belt

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us to the jewels that make up the Belt of Orion: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

What else can you spot in this image? The Horsehead? Pillars of Creation? Bubbles?

The Coming of the Ramans

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an artist depiction of interstellar visitor Oumuamua. Some jokingly suggested it may be a derelict interstellar visitor. Paging Dr. Clarke...

Dipping In

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Ursus Major, The Big Bear, The Plough, call it what you will: The Big Dipper. "Mouseover" the image in the link for a guide.

Red Rover

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a "selfie" courtesy of one of the two working rovers on the surface of Mars, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, working it's way to Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons).

A WISE Look

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows dust and molecular clouds of NGC 7822, in the constellation of Cepheus, courtesy of the Wide Field Infrared Survey (WISE) satellite.

Triad

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a very "old" Moon in the pre-dawn sky along with Jupiter and Venus.

Sky Fall

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a fireball over the skies of Italy. The dinosaurs, luckily, were spared this time.

Boris the Spider

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day spins a web of gas and dust across more than a thousand light-years. Would a ship be ensnared in the tendrils of The Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070?

The Rose of Caroline

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 7789, discovered by Caroline Lucretia Herschel. Caroline is often overshadowed by her brother, which is a shame, as she not only was a fine observational astronomer, but carried the burden of the household in many ways. Could William functioned as he did without her help?

More Than Meets the Eye

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows one of our familiar (northern hemisphere) winter sights: Messier 45), but gives us a deeper look than our naked (or assisted) eye can see: the Pleiades with the dust and debris that we normally miss.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.
(Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Locksley Hall)

Sun Diver

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Comet 96P/Machholz as it dives towards our home star. There are swarms of comets who do the suicide run (for a icy body, making a close approach to a fusion furnace should not be a life goal!) like this yearly. The venerable SOHO spacecraft helps us to study these cosmic Icarus's.

Cosmic Gathering

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows our Moon, and the planets Venus and Jupiter gathering in the skies of 2008.

False Moon

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day sheds a new light on an familiar face: our Moon, color enhanced in order to highlight mineral deposits. Such maps may lead us to target areas of interest for future exploration (and actual use).

Extended Wisp

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day show the remnants of a star's final fury: after effects of a supernova that stretch across the constellation of Cygnus. Williamina Fleming discovered the nebula, so it is tagged as Williamina's Triangular Wisp.

Cetan Spiral

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 1055 in Cetus. This image shows much fine detail that reveals star-forming regions, dust lanes and even a halo around the galaxy.