APOD: 2023 January 9 Б Tails of Comet ZTF
9.01.2023

Comet ZTF may become visible to the unaided eye. Discovered early last year, this massive snowball has been brightening as it approaches the Sun and the Earth. C/2022 E3 (ZTF) will be closest...

APOD: 2024 September 30 Б Comet Tsuchinshan ATLAS over Mexico
30.09.2024

The new comet has passed its closest to the Sun and is now moving closer to the Earth. C/2023 A3 (TsuchinshanБATLAS) is currently moving out from inside the orbit of Venus and on track to pass its nearest to the Earth in about two weeks.

APOD: 2025 September 9 Б Up from the Earth: Gigantic Jet Lightning
9.09.2025

What's that rising up from the Earth? When circling the Earth on the International Space Station early in July, astronaut Nicole Ayers saw an unusual type of lightning rising up from the Earth: a gigantic jet. The powerful jet appears near the center of the featured image in red, white, and blue.

Neptune's Great Dark Spot: Gone But Not Forgotten
1.12.2001

When NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by distant Neptune in August of 1989, astronomers were shocked. Since Neptune receives only 3 percent the sunlight Jupiter does, they expected to find a dormant, dark, frigid planet. Instead, the Voyager images revealed evidence of a dynamic and turbulent world.

M57: The Ring Nebula
22.03.2003

Except for the rings of Saturn, the Ring Nebula (M57) is probably the most famous celestial band. This planetary nebula's simple, graceful appearance is thought to be due to perspective -- our view from planet Earth looking straight into what is actually a barrel-shaped cloud of gas shrugged off by a dying central star.

The Clouds of Jupiter
20.09.1997

What makes the colors in Jupiter's clouds? With a mean temperature of 120 degrees Kelvin (-153 degrees Celsius) and a composition dominated by hydrogen (about 90%), and helium (about 10%) with a smattering...

Toutatis Nears Planet Earth
2.10.2004

On Wednesday, September 29, asteroid Toutatis came within one million miles of Earth -- the closest predicted aproach of a sizable asteroid or comet to our fair planet in this century. Coming within one million...

M106 in Canes Venatici
30.07.2005

Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial nebula was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106.

Methane Dwarf
3.06.1999

While hunting through Sloan Sky Survey data in search of distant quasars, Princeton astronomers Xiaohui Fan and Michael Strauss came upon an undiscovered type of object very nearby - now dubbed a methane dwarf. Marked...

Natural Saturn On The Cassini Cruise
29.01.2000

What could you see approaching Saturn aboard an interplanetary cruise ship? Your view would likely resemble this subtly shaded image of the gorgeous ringed gas giant. Processed by the Hubble Heritage project, the picture...