Hunter in Repose

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Orion the Hunter from the perspective of Brazil, where he seems to be somewhere between horizontal repose and starting to stand on his head (vs. my usual northern hemisphere perspective).

The Cosmic Horologist

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows planetary nebula MyCn 18, a cosmic hourglass imaged here by the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Path of the Sun

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day traces an analemma, the path of the Sun over the course of a year.

Mapping the Core

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the richness of our galactic core.

da Vinci Glow

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the New Moon embraced in the arms of the Old Moon. The "dark side" of the moon (the night side) is lit by earthshine. Leonardo da Vinci was probably not the first to observe this, but was the first that we know of to write of it.

Making the Star Stuff

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows IC 5070, The Pelican Nebula, in the constellation of Cygnus. We are all star stuff, especially stars, which are being created in regions such as this.

Martian Frosting

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the northern hemisphere of Mars, where frozen carbon dioxide and water are sublimating off dune fields. Poke around and find other images from the polar regions of Mars during this kind of event. There are some amazing images to be seen around this (let along the rest of the planet!).

A Half Year of Suns

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a half year, from winter solstice to summer solstice of images of the Sun.

Warped Planet

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows...a landscape warped by a close-passing singularity? Cosmic strings bending local space? A breakdown between dimensions? Stitched photos creating so-called Little Planet projections can get really mind-bending!

Night Flowers

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the Tulip Nebula, found in the constellation of Cygnus (the Swan). The night sky is full of flowers.

Nightside

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Cassini Orbiter image of Saturn's nightside with a polar crescent and lit rings.

Traveling the Veil

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows one portion of the Veil Nebula, an expanding supernova remnant in the constellation of Cygnus.

Active Sky

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a Transient Luminous Event, jet lightning, over the skies of India.

Water

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an artist conception of K2-18b, an exoplanet around the star K2-18, near the constellation of Leo. What makes this exoplanet unique? A "significant amount" of water vapor has been detected at this exoplanet, a necessary component for life (as, they say, we know it).

The Bow of Athena

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows a corona caused by the light of the Moon over the skies of Turin.

Stormy Giant

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a Cassini Orbiter image showing the ring system, a moon shadow, belts and eddies, and a long-term storm at Saturn.

Tiny Planet Hunter

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a 360 degree mosaic creating a "tiny planet" showing the SPECULOOS Southern Observatory in the Atacama desert.

Full Moon

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the full Moon known as the Harvest Moon, rising in the skies of France.

Dusty Flower

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows NGC 7023, the Iris Nebula, in the constellation of Cepheus.

Icy Heart

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows IC 1805, The Heart Nebula, near the constellation of Cassiopeia. More like a cave, than a heart, to me.

A Bit of Pluto

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a "true color" image of Pluto, as taken by the New Horizons 2015 vehicle. I'm still astounded by this, not only the mission (and the success of the mission), but these images. If only Clyde Tombaugh had been around to see this.

Spiral in Andromeda

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows Messier 31, the Great Galaxy in Andromeda. Under dark backyard skies, you can see this galaxy as a hazy cloud in the night sky, with astronomical equipment and long exposure times, the structure of the galaxy comes into view.

Close Encounter

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video showing Perijove 11, the Juno orbiter's eleventh close pass of Jupiter. There's some astounding imagery coming from this mission!

The Lair of the Wolf

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the rich star fields, emission and reflection nebula, and young blue stars of Wolf's Lair, a nebular complex in the constellation of Cepheus.

Out of Old, New

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a image that combines data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope to show the debris cloud (containing gas, dust and even bits of heavier elements caused in the event) from the Cassiopeia A supernova.

Under Southern Climes

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows one of our nearest extra-galactic neighbors, The Large Magellanic Cloud, in the constellation of Dorado. This featured in a favorite science fiction tale of my misbegotten youth.

Spiders of Space

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a combination of images from the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Two Micron All Sky Survey of IC 417 and NGC 1931. Do you see a spider and a fly?

Colliding States of Matter

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is a short video depicting what might have been observed by the LIGO and Virgo gravity detectors at S190814by. Did we see collision between a neutron star and a black hole?

From the Mountains to the Moon

Today's Astronomy of the Day shows the Moon rising over the Alps (did you know there are also Alps on the Moon?). Off to the side of the Moon, a small star. Wait...that's no star...that's a giant planet!

Sisters in Shroud

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day brings us the Pleiades star cluster, visible from the naked eye to binoculars to rich-field telescopes, in the constellation of Taurus.

Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,

Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,

Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

(Locksley Hall by Alfred, Lord Tennyson)