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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]