Saturday, July 5, 2025

APOD - Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 July 5

Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Massimo Di Fusco

Explanation: Difficult to capture, this mysterious, squid-shaped interstellar cloud spans nearly three full moons in planet Earth's sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula's bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently surrounded by the reddish hydrogen emission region Sh2-129, the true distance and nature of the Squid Nebula have been difficult to determine. Still, one investigation suggests Ou4 really does lie within Sh2-129 some 2,300 light-years away. Consistent with that scenario, the cosmic squid would represent a spectacular outflow of material driven by a triple system of hot, massive stars, cataloged as HR8119, seen near the center of the nebula. If so, this truly giant squid nebula would physically be over 50 light-years across.

Tomorrow's picture: north pole of Mars

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Friday, July 4, 2025

APOD - NGC 6946 and NGC 6939

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.

2025 July 4

NGC 6946 and NGC 6939
Image Credit & Copyright: Alberto Pisabarro

Explanation: Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image data captured with a small telescope on planet Earth. The field of view spans spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons on the sky toward the northern constellation Cepheus. Seen through faint interstellar dust clouds near the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, the stars of open cluster NGC 6939 are 5,600 light-years in the distance, near bottom right in the frame. Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 is at top left, but lies some 22 million light-years away. In the last 100 years, 10 supernovae have been discovered in NGC 6946, the latest one seen in 2017. By comparison, the average rate of supernovae in our Milky Way is about 1 every 100 years or so. Of course, NGC 6946 is also known as The Fireworks Galaxy.

Tomorrow's picture: squid game

Thursday, July 3, 2025

APOD - Nova V462 Lupi Now Visible

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 July 3

Nova V462 Lupi Now Visible
Image Credit & Copyright: Matipon Tangmatitham (NARIT)

Explanation: If you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear explosion from a white dwarf star. Possibly two. Such explosions are known as novas and the detonations are currently faintly visible with the unaided eye in Earth's southern hemisphere -- but are more easily seen with binoculars. Pictured, Nova Lupi 2025 (V462 Lupi) was captured toward the southern constellation of the Wolf (Lupus) last week near the central plane of our Milky Way galaxy. Nova Lupi 2025 was originally discovered on June 12 and peaked in brightness about a week later. Similarly, Nova Velorum 2025, toward the southern constellation of the Ship Sails (Vela), was discovered on June 25 and peaked a few days later. A nova somewhere in our Galaxy becomes briefly visible to the unaided eye only every year or two, so it is quite unusual to have two novas visible simultaneously. Meanwhile, humanity awaits even a different nova: T Coronae Borealis, which should become visible in northern skies and is expected to become even brighter.

Tomorrow's picture: open space

Wednesday, July 2, 2025

APOD - Milky Way Through Otago Spires

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.

2025 July 2

Milky Way Through Otago Spires
Image Credit & Copyright: Kavan Chay; Text: Ogetay Kayali (Michigan Tech U.)

Explanation: Does the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks? No. Capturing this stunning alignment took careful planning: being in the right place at the right time. In the featured image taken in June 2024 from Otago, New Zealand, the bright central core of our Milky Way Galaxy, home to the many of our Galaxy's 400 billion stars, can be seen between two picturesque rocks spires. For observers in Earth's Northern Hemisphere, the core is only visible throughout the summer. As Earth orbits the Sun, different parts of the Milky Way become visible at different angles at different times of the night. As Earth rotates, the orientation of the Milky Way in the sky also shifts -- sometimes standing vertically as seen in the featured image, and other times stretching parallel to the horizon, making it harder to see. In early June, observers can watch it emerge low on the horizon after sunset and gradually arc upward to reveal its full grandeur.

Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

APOD - Eye Sky a Dragon

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.

2025 July 1

Eye Sky a Dragon
Image Credit & Copyright: Anton Komlev

Explanation: What do you see when you look into this sky? In the center, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy running down the middle? Do you see the ruins of an abandoned outpost on a hill? (The outpost is on Askold Island, Russia.) Do you see a photographer with a headlamp contemplating surreal surroundings? (The featured image is a panorama of 38 images taken last month and compiled into a Little Planet projection.) Do you see a rugged path lined with steps? Or do you see the eye of a dragon?

Tomorrow's picture: in spired

Monday, June 30, 2025

APOD - NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 30

NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy
Image Credit: Rabeea Alkuwari & Anas Almajed

Explanation: It's raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small satellite galaxy. The main galaxy, spiral galaxy NGC 4651, is about the size of our Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to extend some 100 thousand light-years above this galaxy's bright disk. A small galaxy was likely torn apart by repeated encounters as it swept back and forth on eccentric orbits through NGC 4651. The remaining stars will surely fall back and become part of a combined larger galaxy over the next few million years. The featured deep image was captured in long exposures from Saudi Arabia. The Umbrella Galaxy lies about 50 million light-years distant toward the well-groomed northern constellation of Berenice's Hair (Coma Berenices).

APOD in a Modern Format StellarSnap
Tomorrow's picture: eye sky a dragon

Sunday, June 29, 2025

APOD - Dark Sand Cascades on Mars

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 29

Dark Sand Cascades on Mars
Image Credit: NASA, HiRISE, MRO, LPL (U. Arizona),

Explanation: Are these trees growing on Mars? No. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The featured image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice. When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even while the image was being taken.

Celestial Surprise: What picture did APOD feature on your birthday? (post 1995)
Tomorrow's picture: raining stars

Saturday, June 28, 2025

APOD - Lunar Farside

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 28

Lunar Farside
Image Credit: NASA / GSFC / Arizona State Univ. / Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

Explanation: Tidally locked in synchronous rotation, the Moon always presents its familiar nearside to denizens of planet Earth. From lunar orbit, the Moon's farside can become familiar, though. In fact this sharp picture, a mosaic from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter's wide angle camera, is centered on the lunar farside. Part of a global mosaic of over 15,000 images acquired between November 2009 and February 2011, the highest resolution version shows features at a scale of 100 meters per pixel. Surprisingly, the rough and battered surface of the farside looks very different from the nearside covered with smooth dark lunar maria. A likely explanation is that the farside crust is thicker, making it harder for molten material from the interior to flow to the surface and form dark, smooth maria.

Tomorrow's picture: dark sand

Friday, June 27, 2025

APOD - Messier 109

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 27

Messier 109
Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Eder

Explanation: Big beautiful barred spiral galaxy Messier 109 is the 109th entry in Charles Messier's famous catalog of bright Nebulae and Star Clusters. You can find it just below the Big Dipper's bowl in the northern constellation Ursa Major. In fact, bright dipper star Phecda, Gamma Ursa Majoris, produces the glare at the upper right corner of this telescopic frame. M109's prominent central bar gives the galaxy the appearance of the Greek letter "theta", θ, a common mathematical symbol representing an angle. M109 spans a very small angle in planet Earth's sky though, about 7 arcminutes or 0.12 degrees. But that small angle corresponds to an enormous 120,000 light-year diameter at the galaxy's estimated 60 million light-year distance. The brightest member of the now recognized Ursa Major galaxy cluster, M109 (aka NGC 3992) is joined by spiky foreground stars. Three small, fuzzy bluish galaxies also on the scene, identified (top to bottom) as UGC 6969, UGC 6940 and UGC 6923, are possibly satellite galaxies of the larger barred spiral galaxy Messier 109.

Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend

Thursday, June 26, 2025

APOD - The Seagull Nebula

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 26

The Seagull Nebula
Image Credit & Copyright: Timothy Martin

Explanation: An interstellar expanse of glowing gas and obscuring dust presents a bird-like visage to astronomers from planet Earth, suggesting its popular moniker, the Seagull Nebula. This broadband portrait of the cosmic bird covers a 3.5-degree wide swath across the plane of the Milky Way, in the direction of Sirius, alpha star of the constellation of the Big Dog (Canis Major). The bright head of the Seagull Nebula is cataloged as IC 2177, a compact, dusty emission and reflection nebula with embedded massive star HD 53367. The larger emission region, encompassing objects with other catalog designations, is Likely part of an extensive shell structure swept up by successive supernova explosions. The notable bluish arc below and right of center is a bow shock from runaway star FN Canis Majoris. Dominated by the reddish glow of atomic hydrogen, this complex of interstellar gas and dust clouds with other stars of the Canis Majoris OB1 association spans over 200 light-years at the Seagull Nebula's estimated 3,800 light-year distance.

Tomorrow's picture: angles in space

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

APOD - Rubin's First Look: A Sagittarius Skyscape

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.

2025 June 25

Rubin's First Look: A Sagittarius Skyscape
Image Credit & License: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Explanation: This interstellar skyscape spans over 4 degrees across crowded starfields toward the constellation Sagittarius and the central Milky Way. A First Look image captured at the new NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the bright nebulae and star clusters featured include famous stops on telescopic tours of the cosmos: Messier 8 and Messier 20. An expansive star-forming region over a hundred light-years across, Messier 8 is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. About 4,000 light-years away the Lagoon Nebula harbors a remarkable cluster of young, massive stars. Their intense radiation and stellar winds energize and agitate this cosmic lagoon's turbulent depths. Messier 20's popular moniker is the Trifid. Divided into three parts by dark interstellar dust lanes, the Trifid Nebula's glowing hydrogen gas creates its dominant red color. But contrasting blue hues in the colorful Trifid are due to dust reflected starlight. The Rubin Observatory visited the Trifid-Lagoon field to acquire all the image data during parts of four nights (May 1-4). At full resolution, Rubin's magnificent Sagittarius skyscape is 84,000 pixels wide and 51,500 pixels tall.

Tomorrow's picture: seagulls in space

Tuesday, June 24, 2025

APOD - In the Center of Spiral Galaxy M61

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 24

In the Center of Spiral Galaxy M61
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, ESO; Processing & Copyright: Robert Gendler

Explanation: Is there a spiral galaxy in the center of this spiral galaxy? Sort of. Image data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the European Southern Observatory, and smaller telescopes on planet Earth are combined in this detailed portrait of face-on spiral galaxy Messier 61 (M61) and its bright center. A mere 55 million light-years away in the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies, M61 is also known as NGC 4303. It's considered to be an example of a barred spiral galaxy similar to our own Milky Way. Like other spiral galaxies, M61 also features sweeping spiral arms, cosmic dust lanes, pinkish star forming regions, and young blue star clusters. Its core houses an active supermassive black hole surrounded by a bright nuclear spiral -- infalling star-forming gas that itself looks like a separate spiral galaxy.

APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Cork, Ireland TONIGHT (Tuesday) at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space and time

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Monday, June 23, 2025

APOD - W5: Pillars of Star Formation

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.

2025 June 23

W5: Pillars of Star Formation
Image Credit: NASA, WISE, IRSA; Processing & Copyright : Francesco Antonucci

Explanation: How do stars form? Images of the star forming region W5 like those in the infrared by NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE, later NEOWISE) satellite provide clear clues with indications that massive stars near the center of empty cavities are older than stars near the edges. A likely reason for this is that the older stars in the center are actually triggering the formation of the younger edge stars. The triggered star formation occurs when hot outflowing gas compresses cooler gas into knots dense enough to gravitationally contract into stars. In the featured scientifically colored infrared image, spectacular pillars left slowly evaporating from the hot outflowing gas provide further visual clues. W5 is also known as Westerhout 5 (W5) and IC 1848. Together with IC 1805, the nebulas form a complex region of star formation popularly dubbed the Heart and Soul Nebulas. The featured image highlights a part of W5 spanning about 2,000 light years that is rich in star forming pillars. W5 lies about 6,500 light years away toward the constellation of Cassiopeia.

APOD Turns 30!: Free public lecture in Cork, Ireland tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: spiral spiral

Sunday, June 22, 2025

APOD - A Berry Bowl of Martian Spherules

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.

2025 June 22

A Berry Bowl of Martian Spherules
Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Curiosity Rover

Explanation: How were these unusual Martian spherules created? Thousands of unusual gray spherules made of iron and rock and dubbed blueberries were found embedded in and surrounding rocks near the landing site of the robot Opportunity rover on Mars in 2004. To help investigate their origin, Opportunity found a surface dubbed the Berry Bowl with an indentation that was rich in the Martian orbs. The Berry Bowl is pictured here, imaged during rover's 48th Martian day. The average size of a Martian blueberry rock is only about 4 millimeters across. By analyzing a circular patch in the rock surface to the left of the densest patch of spherules, Opportunity obtained data showing that the underlying rock has a much different composition than the hematite rich blueberries. This information contributes to the growing consensus that these small, strange, gray orbs were slowly deposited from a bath of dirty water.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Cork, Ireland on Tuesday, June 24 at 7 pm
Tomorrow's picture: heart stars

Saturday, June 21, 2025

APOD - Two Worlds, Two Analemmas

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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2025 June 21

Two Worlds, Two Analemmas
Image Credit: (left) Copyright: Tunc Tezel (TWAN) - (right): NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU/TAMU

Explanation: Sure, that figure-8 shaped curve you get when you mark the position of the Sun in Earth's sky at the same time each day over one year is called an analemma. On the left, Earth's figure-8 analemma was traced by combining wide-angle digital images recorded during the year from December 2011 through December 2012. But the shape of an analemma depends on the eccentricity of a planet's orbit and the tilt of its axis of rotation, so analemma curves can look different for different worlds. Take Mars for example. The Red Planet's axial tilt is similar to Earth's, but its orbit around the same sun is more eccentric (less circular) than Earth's orbit. As seen from the Martian surface, the analemma traced in the right hand panel is shaped more like a tear drop. The Mars rover Opportunity captured the images used over the Martian year corresponding to Earth dates July 2006 to June 2008. Of course, each world's solstice dates still lie at the top and bottom of their different analemma curves. The last Mars northern summer solstice was May 29, 2025. Our fair planet's 2025 northern summer solstice is at June 21, 2:42 UTC.

Tomorrow's picture: just a bowl of spherules

Thursday, June 19, 2025

APOD - NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble

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.

2025 June 19

NGC 3521: Galaxy in a Bubble
Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas Chander

Explanation: Gorgeous spiral galaxy NGC 3521 is a mere 35 million light-years away, toward the northern springtime constellation Leo. Relatively bright in planet Earth's sky, NGC 3521 is easily visible in small telescopes but often overlooked by amateur imagers in favor of other Leo spiral galaxies, like M66 and M65. It's hard to overlook in this colorful cosmic portrait though. Spanning some 50,000 light-years the galaxy sports characteristic patchy, irregular spiral arms laced with dust, pink star forming regions, and clusters of young, blue stars. The deep image also finds NGC 3521 embedded in fainter, gigantic, bubble-like shells. The shells are likely tidal debris, streams of stars torn from satellite galaxies that have undergone mergers with NGC 3521 in the distant past.

Tomorrow's picture: lunistice

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

APOD - Space Station Silhouette on the Moon

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.

2025 June 18

Space Station Silhouette on the Moon
Image Credit & Copyright: Eric Holland

Explanation: What's that unusual spot on the Moon? It's the International Space Station. Using precise timing, the Earth-orbiting space platform was photographed in front of a partially lit gibbous Moon in 2019. The featured image was taken from Palo Alto, California, USA with an exposure time of only 1/667 of a second. In contrast, the duration of the transit of the ISS across the entire Moon was about half a second. A close inspection of this unusually crisp ISS silhouette will reveal the outlines of numerous solar panels and trusses. The bright crater Tycho is visible on the lower left, as well as comparatively rough, light colored terrain known as highlands and relatively smooth, dark colored areas known as maria. Downloadable apps can tell you when the International Space Station will be visible from your area.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Cork, Ireland on June 24
Tomorrow's picture: galaxy in a bubble

Tuesday, June 17, 2025

APOD - Rosette Nebula Deep Field

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.

2025 June 17

Rosette Nebula Deep Field
Image Credit: Toni Fabiani Méndez

Explanation: Can you find the Rosette Nebula? The red flowery-looking nebula just above the image center may seem a good choice, but that's not it. The famous Rosette Nebula is really located on the lower right, here colored blue and white, and connected to the other nebulas by gold-colored filaments. Because the featured image of Rosette's field is so wide, and because of its deep red exposure, it seems to contain other flowers. Designated NGC 2237, the center of the Rosette Nebula is populated by the bright blue stars of open cluster NGC 2244, whose winds and energetic light are evacuating the nebula's center. The Rosette Nebula is about 5,000 light years distant and, just by itself, spans about three times the diameter of a full moon. This flowery field can be found toward the constellation of the Unicorn (Monoceros).

Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Tomorrow's picture: not a crater

Monday, June 16, 2025

APOD - APOD is 30 Years Old Today

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.

2025 June 16

APOD is 30 Years Old Today
Image Credit: Pixelization of Van Gogh's The Starry Night by Dario Giannobile

Explanation: APOD is 30 years old today. In celebration, today's picture uses past APODs as tiles arranged to create a single pixelated image that might remind you of one of the most well-known and evocative depictions of planet Earth's night sky. In fact, this Starry Night consists of 1,836 individual images contributed to APOD over the last 5 years in a mosaic of 32,232 tiles. Today, APOD would like to offer a sincere thank you to our contributors, volunteers, and readers. Over the last 30 years your continuing efforts have allowed us to enjoy, inspire, and share a discovery of the cosmos.

Tomorrow's picture: find the space rose

Sunday, June 15, 2025

APOD - Two Worlds, One Sun

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.

2025 June 15

Two Worlds, One Sun
Left Image Credit & Copyright: Damia Bouic;
Right Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS; Digital processing: Damia Bouic

Explanation: How different does sunset appear from Mars than from Earth? For comparison, two images of our common star were taken at sunset, one from Earth and one from Mars. These images were scaled to have the same angular width and are featured here side-by-side. A quick inspection will reveal that the Sun appears slightly smaller from Mars than from Earth. This makes sense since Mars is 50% further from the Sun than Earth. More striking, perhaps, is that the Martian sunset is noticeably bluer near the Sun than the typically orange colors near the setting Sun from Earth. The reason for the blue hues from Mars is not fully understood, but thought to be related to forward scattering properties of Martian dust. The terrestrial sunset was taken in 2012 March from Marseille, France, while the Martian sunset was captured in 2015 by NASA's robotic Curiosity rover from Gale crater on Mars.

APOD Turns 30!: Free Public Lecture in Cork, Ireland on June 24
Tomorrow's picture: S30E1

About B.Burns

My purpose in life is to assist you to become your best self.

I am an NLP Master Practitioner, Master Clinical Hypnotherapist, and a Reiki Master. Living alcohol free since 1983, and tobacco free since 1987, I know the value of tuning into the possibilities of your spiritual connection.

Having taught Hypnosis and Basic NLP to thousands, many of which were certified, my goal is to continue on this path. By leading workshops and seminars I can share this knowledge and information which will lead you to your personal power.

"Once you discover your purpose in life, you will realize you have always known it."
Bob Burns

President of Robert Burns & Associates, is a globally renowned author and motivational speaker servicing individuals and corporations throughout Eastern Pennsylvania, Lehigh Valley and Northwestern New Jersey. Burns has been in the business of Motivation, Inspiration and Education since 1991 and has earned the titles of Master Clinical Hypnotherapist, Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming and Reiki Master. Referred to as a "Motivational Master" by Men's Health Magazine in 2002, Bob has been featured on more than 150 talk radio programs from London to Canada and all across the United States, has four books published and has recorded nearly 50 inspirational CDs. Holding a blue ribbon from Toastmasters International, Mr. Burns has held speaking engagements throughout the country for small businesses and national corporations including New York Life, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Equinox, Nu Skin, General Chemical, Shaklee, and more.

CALL TODAY! 610-462-0804

EMAIL: BOB@BOBBURNSSPEAKS.COM

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