APOD: 2023 March 14 Б W5: The Soul Nebula
14.03.2023

Stars are forming in the Soul of the Queen of Aethopia. More specifically, a large star forming region called the Soul Nebula can be found in the direction of the constellation Cassiopeia, whom Greek mythology credits as the vain wife of a King who long ago ruled lands surrounding the upper Nile river.

APOD: 2023 March 20 Б M1: The Expanding Crab Nebula
20.03.2023

Are your eyes good enough to see the Crab Nebula expand? The Crab Nebula is cataloged as M1, the first on Charles Messier's famous list of things which are not comets. In fact...

APOD: 2023 June 19 Б The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula
19.06.2023

The center of the Lagoon Nebula is a whirlwind of spectacular star formation. Visible near the image center, at least two long funnel-shaped clouds, each roughly half a light-year long, have been formed by extreme stellar winds and intense energetic starlight. A tremendously bright nearby star, Herschel 36, lights the area.

APOD: 2024 August 19 Б IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
19.08.2024

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).

APOD: 2025 February 25 Б M41: The Little Beehive Star Cluster
25.02.2025

Why are there so many bright blue stars? Stars are usually born in clusters, and the brightest and most massive of these stars typically glow blue. Less-bright, non-blue stars like our Sun surely also exist in this M41 star cluster but are harder to see. A few bright orange-appearing red giant stars are visible.

APOD: 2025 August 3 Б Milky Way and Exploding Meteor
3.08.2025

In about a week the Perseid Meteor Shower will reach its maximum. Grains of icy rock will streak across the sky as they evaporate during entry into Earth's atmosphere. These grains were shed from Comet Swift-Tuttle.

APOD: 2026 March 14 Б A Year for K2-315b
14.03.2026

Want to visit a planet that has 3.14 days in a year? Then plan a trip to K2-315b, an earth-sized planet orbiting around a cool, red, M dwarf star about once every 3.14 days.

APOD: 2024 September 23 Б Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS Approaches
23.09.2024

What will happen as this already bright comet approaches? Optimistic predictions have Comet C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanБATLAS) briefly becoming easily visible to the unaided eye -- although the future brightness of comets are notoriously hard to predict, and this comet may even break up in warming sunlight.

APOD: 2026 May 15 Б R3 PanSTARRS: An Orion Comet
15.05.2026

Comet R3 PanSTARRS might be best remembered as an Orion comet. A key reason is because Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) was near its most spectacular -- in terms of tail visibility -- when passing in front of the iconic constellation.

APOD: 2023 February 14 Б The Heart and Soul Nebulas
14.02.2023

Is the heart and soul of our Galaxy located in Cassiopeia? Possibly not, but that is where two bright emission nebulas nicknamed Heart and Soul can be found. The Heart Nebula, officially dubbed IC 1805 and visible in the featured image on the upper right, has a shape reminiscent of a classical heart symbol.