Alpha News

Over 500,000 light years across, NGC 6872 (bottom left) is a truly enormous barred spiral galaxy . At least 5 times the size of our own large Milky Way, NGC 6872 is the largest known spiral galaxy. About 200 million light-years distant toward the southern constellation Pavo, the Peacock, the appearance of this giant galaxy's stretched out spiral arms suggest the wings of a giant bird. So its popular moniker is the Condor galaxy. Lined with massive young, bluish star clusters and star-forming regions , the extended and distorted spiral arms are due to NGC 6872's past gravitational interactions with the nearby smaller galaxy IC 4970 , visible here below the giant spiral galaxy's core. Other members of the southern Pavo galaxy group are scattered through this magnificent galaxy group portrait , with the dominant giant elliptical galaxy, NGC 6876, above and right of the soaring Condor galaxy. from NASA https://ift.tt/nuqm1iT

This galaxy is not only pretty -- it's useful. A gorgeous spiral some 100 million light-years distant, NGC 1309 lies on the banks of the constellation of the River ( Eridanus ). NGC 1309 spans about 30,000 light-year s, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy . Bluish clusters of young stars and dust lanes are seen to trace out NGC 1309's spiral arms as they wind around an older yellowish star population at its core. Not just another pretty face-on spiral galaxy, observations of NGC 1309's two recent supernovas and multiple Cepheid variable stars contribute to the calibration of the expansion of the Universe. Still, after you get over this beautiful galaxy's grand design, check out the array of more distant background galaxies also recorded in this sharp image from the Hubble Space Telescope . from NASA https://ift.tt/v6CYgxD

What kind of clouds are these? Although their cause is presently unknown, such unusual atmospheric structures, as menacing as they might seem, do not appear to be harbingers of meteorological doom . Formally recognized as a distinct cloud type only last year, asperitas clouds can be stunning in appearance, unusual in occurrence, and are relatively unstudied. Whereas most low cloud decks are flat bottomed , asperitas clouds appear to have significant vertical structure underneath. Speculation therefore holds that asperitas clouds might be related to lenticular clouds that form near mountains, or mammatus clouds associated with thunderstorms, or perhaps a foehn -- a type of dry downward wind that flows off mountains. Clouds from such a wind called the Canterbury arch stream toward the east coast of New Zealand's South Island . The featured image , taken above Hanmer Springs in Canterbury , New Zealand in 2005, shows great detail partly because sunlight illuminates the un...

The camera battery died about 2am local time on August 12, while shooting in the bright moonlit skies from a garden in Chastre, Brabant Wallon, Belgium, planet Earth. But not before it captured the frames used to compose this cool animated gif of a brilliant Perseid meteor and a lingering visible trail known as a persistent train . The Perseid meteor, a fast moving speck of dust from the tail of large periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle , was heated to incandescence by ram pressure and vaporized as it flashed through the upper atmosphere at 60 kilometers per second . Compared to the brief flash of the meteor, its wraith-like trail really is persistent. A characteristic of bright meteors, a smoke-like persistent train can often be followed for many minutes wafting in the winds at altitudes of 60 to 90 kilometers. from NASA https://ift.tt/qLefHnN

In the predawn sky on August 13, two planets were close. And despite the glare of a waning gibbous Moon, bright Jupiter and even brighter Venus were hard to miss. Their brilliant close conjunction is posing above the eastern horizon in this early morning skyscape. The scene was captured in a single exposure from a site near Gansu, China, with light from both planets reflected in the still waters of a local pond. Also seen against the moonlight were flashes from the annual Perseid Meteor Shower , known for its bright, fast meteors. Near the much anticipated peak of activity, the shower meteors briefly combined with the two planets for a celestial spectacle even in moonlit skies. from NASA https://ift.tt/Kdfw8JV

In 1716 , English astronomer Edmond Halley noted, "This is but a little Patch, but it shews itself to the naked Eye, when the Sky is serene and the Moon absent." Of course, M13 is now less modestly recognized as the Great Globular Cluster in Hercules, one of the brightest globular star clusters in the northern sky. Sharp telescopic views like this one reveal the spectacular cluster's hundreds of thousands of stars. At a distance of 25,000 light-years, the cluster stars crowd into a region 150 light-years in diameter. Approaching the cluster core, upwards of 100 stars could be contained in a cube just 3 light-years on a side. For comparison with our neighborhood of the Milky Way, the closest star to the Sun is over 4 light-years away. Early telescopic observers of the great globular cluster also noted a curious convergence of three dark lanes with a spacing of about 120 degrees, seen here just below the cluster center. Known as the propeller in M13 , the shape is l...

What lies in the heart of Orion? Trapezium: four bright stars, that can be found near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait . Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, these stars dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars , mostly from the brightest star Theta-1 Orionis C powers the complex star forming region's entire visible glow. About three million years old, the Orion Nebula Cluster was even more compact in its younger years and a dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun . The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars . The Orion Nebula's distance of some 1,500 light-years make it one of the closest candidate black holes to Earth. from NASA https://ift.tt/XgPaCHs

Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tonight is known as the Perseids -- the meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward Perseus . In terms of parent body, though, the sand-sized debris that makes up the Perseids meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle . The comet follows a well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of Perseus. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris appears in Perseus. Featured here , a composite image taken over six nights and containing over 100 meteors from 2024 August Perseids meteor shower shows many bright meteor s that streaked over the Bieszczady Mountains in Poland . This year's Perseids , usually one of the best meteor showers of the year, will compete with a bright moon that will rise , for many locations, s...

What's that strange light down the road? Dust orbiting the Sun. At certain times of the year, a band of sun-reflecting dust from the inner Solar System appears prominently just after sunset -- or just before sunrise -- and is called zodiacal light . Although the origin of this dust is still being researched, a leading hypothesis holds that zodiacal dust originates mostly from faint Jupiter-family comets and slowly spirals into the Sun . Recent analysis of dust emitted by Comet 67P , visited by ESA's robotic Rosetta spacecraft , bolsters this hypothesis. Pictured when climbing a road up to Teide National Park in the Canary Islands of Spain , a bright triangle of zodiacal light appeared in the distance soon after sunset. Captured on June 21, 2019, the scene includes bright Regulus , the alpha star of the constellation Leo, standing above center toward the left. The Beehive Star Cluster (M44) can be spotted below center, closer to the horizon and also immersed in the z...

Discovered on July 1 with the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, 3I/ATLAS is so designated as the third known interstellar object to pass through our Solar System. It follows 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and the comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Also known as C/2025 N1 , 3I/ATLAS is a comet. A teardrop-shaped cloud of dust, ejected from its icy nucleus warmed by increasing sunlight, is seen in this sharp image from the Hubble Space Telescope captured on July 21. Background stars are streaked in the exposure as Hubble tracked the fastest comet ever recorded on its journey toward the inner solar system. An analysis of the Hubble image indicates the solid nucleus, hidden from direct view, is likely less that 5.6 kilometers in diameter. This comet's interstellar origin is clear from its orbit , determined to be an eccentric, highly hyperbolic orbit that does not loop back around the Sun and will return 3I/ATLAS to interste...

One of the all-time historic skyscapes occured in July 1054, when the Crab Supernova blazed into the dawn sky. Chinese court astrologers first saw the Guest Star on the morning of 4 July 1054 next to the star Tianguan (now cataloged as Zeta Tauri ). The supernova peaked in late July 1054 a bit brighter than Venus, and was visible in the daytime for 23 days. The Guest Star was so bright that every culture around the world inevitably discovered the supernova independently, although only nine reports survive, including those from China, Japan , and Constantinople . This iPhone picture is from Signal Hill near Tucson on the morning of 26 July 2025, faithfully re-creates the year 1054 Dawn of the Crab, showing the sky as seen by Hohokam peoples. The planet Venus, as a stand-in for the supernova , is close to the position of what is now the Crab Nebula supernova remnant. Step outside on a summer dawn with bright Venus, and ask yourself "What would you have thought in ancient ti...

This stunning starfield spans about three full moons (1.5 degrees) across the heroic northern constellation of Perseus . It holds the famous pair of open star clusters , h and Chi Persei. Also cataloged as NGC 869 (right) and NGC 884 , both clusters are about 7,000 light-years away and contain stars much younger and hotter than the Sun. Separated by only a few hundred light-years, the clusters are both 13 million years young based on the ages of their individual stars , evidence that both clusters were likely a product of the same star-forming region. Always a rewarding sight in binoculars or small telescopes, the Double Cluster is even visible to the unaided eye from dark locations . from NASA https://ift.tt/IA49GRJ

What's that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower , a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy 's far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth's atmosphere . The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor's gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor , the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids , a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks next week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon. from NASA https://ift.tt/0djzbrB

Why is this nebula so complex? The Webb Space Telescope has imaged a nebula in great detail that is thought to have emerged from a Sun -like star. NGC 6072 has been resolved into one of the more unusual and complex examples of planetary nebula . The featured image is in infrared light with the red color highlighting cool hydrogen gas. Study of previous images of NGC 6072 indicated several likely outflows and two disk s inside the jumbled gas, while the new Webb image resolves new features likely including one disk's edge protruding on the central left. A leading origin hypothesis holds that the nebula's complexity is caused or enhanced by multiple outbursts from a star in a multi-star system near the center. from NASA https://ift.tt/70Gfjy5

What are these gigantic blue arcs near the Andromeda Galaxy (M31)? Discovered in 2022 by amateur astronomers, the faint arcs -- dubbed SDSO 1 -- span nearly the same angular size as M31 itself. At first, their origin was a mystery: are they actually near the Andromeda Galaxy , or alternatively near to our Sun ? Now, over 550 hours of combined exposure and a collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers has revealed strong evidence for their true nature: SDSO 1 is not intergalactic , but a new class of planetary nebula within our galaxy. Dubbed a Ghost Planetary Nebula (GPN), SDSO 1 is the first recognized member of a new subclass of faded planetary nebulas , along with seven others also recently identified . Shown in blue are extremely faint oxygen emission from the shock waves, while the surrounding red is a hydrogen-emitting trail that indicates the GPN's age. from NASA https://ift.tt/Z7VC0we

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 . The Perseids result from the annual crossing of the Earth through Comet Swift-Tuttle 's orbit, and are typically the most active meteor shower of the year. Although it is hard to predict the level of activity in any meteor shower , in a clear dark sky an observer might see a meteor a minute. This year's Perseids peak just a few days after full moon , and so some faint meteors will be lost to the lunar skyglow . Meteor showers in general are best seen from a relaxing position , away from lights. Featured here is a meteor caught exploding during the 2015 Perseids above Austria next to the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy . from NASA https://ift.tt/r91Q5lx

Taken on July 29 and July 30, a registered and stacked series of exposures creates this dreamlike view of a northern summer night . Multiple firefly flashes streak across the foreground as the luminous Milky Way arcs above the horizon in the Sierra de Órganos national park of central Mexico, The collection of bright streaks aligned across the sky toward the upper left in the timelapse image are Delta Aquariid meteors. Currently active, the annual Delta Aquarid meteor shower shares August nights though, overlapping with the better-known Perseid meteor shower . This year that makes post-midnight, mostly moonless skies in early August very popular with late night skygazers. How can you tell a Delta Aquariid from a Perseid meteor? The streaks of Perseid meteors can be traced back to an apparent radiant in the constellation Perseus. Delta Aquariids appear to emerge from the more southerly constellation Aquarius, beyond the top left of this frame. Of course, the bioluminescent flashes of...

A small, dark, nebula looks isolated near the center of this telescopic close-up. The wedge-shaped cosmic cloudlet lies within a relatively crowded region of space though. About 7,000 light-years distant and filled with glowing gas and an embedded cluster of young stars, the region is known as M16 or the Eagle Nebula . Hubble's iconic images of the Eagle Nebula include the famous star-forming Pillars of Creation , towering structures of interstellar gas and dust 4 to 5 light-years long. But this small dark nebula, known to some as a Bok globule , is a fraction of a light-year across. The Bok globule stands out in silhouette against the expansive background of M16's diffuse glow. Found scattered within emission nebulae and star clusters, Bok globules are small interstellar clouds of cold molecular gas and obscuring dust that also form stars within their dense, collapsing cores. from NASA https://ift.tt/RTZrckM

A long time ago in a galaxy 50 million light-years away, a star exploded . Light from that supernova was first detected by telescopes on planet Earth on July 14th though, and the extragalactic transient is now known to astronomers as supernova 2025rbs . Presently the brightest supernova in planet Earth's sky, 2025rbs is a Type Ia supernova, likely caused by the thermonuclear detonation of a white dwarf star that accreted material from a companion in a binary star system. Type Ia supernovae are used as standard candles to establish the distance scale of the universe. The host galaxy of 2025rbs is NGC 7331. Itself a bright spiral galaxy in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our own Milky Way. from NASA https://ift.tt/BgXMeZI

Our Sun frequently erupts in loops. Hot solar plasma jumps off the Sun's surface into prominences , with the most common type of prominence being a simple loop. The loop shape originates from the Sun's magnetic field , which is traced by spiraling electrons and protons. Many loops into the Sun's lower corona are large enough to envelop the Earth and are stable enough to last days. They commonly occur near active regions that also include dark sunspots . The featured panel shows four loops, each of which was captured near the Sun 's edge during 2024 and 2025. The images were taken by a personal telescope in Mantova , Italy and in a very specific color of light emitted primarily by hydrogen . Some solar prominences suddenly break open and eject particles into the Solar System , setting up a space weather sequence that can affect the skies and wires of Earth. from NASA https://ift.tt/6pqzkdY

Is the Helix Nebula looking at you? No, not in any biological sense, but it does look quite like an eye. The Helix Nebula is so named because it also appears that you are looking down the axis of a helix . In actuality, it is now understood to have a surprisingly complex geometry , including radial filaments and extended outer loops . The Helix Nebula ( aka NGC 7293) is one of brightest and closest examples of a planetary nebula , a gas cloud created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. The remnant central stellar core, destined to become a white dwarf star , glows in light so energetic it causes the previously expelled gas to fluoresce . The featured picture , taken in red, green, and blue but highlighted by light emitted primarily by hydrogen was created from 12 hours of exposure through a personal telescope located in Greece . A close-up of the inner edge of the Helix Nebula shows complex gas knots the origin of which are still being researched . from NASA https://if...

Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe? You're not alone. Details of what causes lightning are still being researched , but it is known that inside some clouds, internal updrafts cause collisions between ice and snow that slowly separate charges between cloud tops and bottoms. The rapid electrical discharges that are lightning soon result. Lightning usually takes a jagged course, rapidly heating a thin column of air to about three times the surface temperature of the Sun . The resulting shock wave starts supersonically and decays into the loud sound known as thunder . On average, around the world, about 6,000 lightning bolts occur between clouds and the Earth every minute. Pictured in July 2019 in a two-image composite, lightning stems from communication antennas near the top of Volcán de Agua (Volcano of Water) in Guatemala . from NASA https://ift.tt/HPa5lZz

Globular star cluster Omega Centauri packs about 10 million stars much older than the Sun into a volume some 150 light-years in diameter. Also known as NGC 5139, at a distance of 15,000 light-years it's the largest and brightest of 200 or so known globular clusters that roam the halo of our Milky Way galaxy. Though most star clusters consist of stars with the same age and composition, the enigmatic Omega Cen exhibits the presence of different stellar populations with a spread of ages and chemical abundances. In fact, Omega Cen may be the remnant core of a small galaxy merging with the Milky Way. With a yellowish hue , Omega Centauri's red giant stars are easy to pick out in this sharp telescopic view . A two-decade-long exploration of the dense star cluster with the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed evidence for a massive black hole near the center of Omega Centauri . from NASA https://ift.tt/8QIotb0

Meteors from the Kappa Cygnid meteor shower are captured in this time-lapse composite skyscape. The minor meteor shower, with a radiant not far from its eponymous star Kappa Cygni, peaks in mid-August, almost at the same time as the much better-known and better-observed Perseid meteor shower. But, seen to have a peak rate of only about 3 meteors per hour, Kappa Cygnids are vastly outnumbered by the more popular, prolific Perseid shower's meteors that emanate from the heroic constellation Perseus. To capture dozens of Kappa Cygnids, this long term astro-imaging project compiled meteors in exposures selected from over 51 August nights during the years 2012 through 2024. Most of the exposures with identified Kappa Cygnid meteors were made in August 2021, a high point of the shower's known 7-year activity cycle. All twelve years worth of Kappa Cygnids are registered against a base sea and night skyscape of the Milky Way above Elafonisi Beach, Crete, Greece, also recorded in A...

Every 15 years or so , Saturn's rings are tilted edge-on to our line of sight. As the bright, beautiful ring system grows narrower and fainter it becomes increasingly difficult to see for denizens of planet Earth . But it does provide the opportunity to watch transits of Saturn's moons and their dark shadows across the ringed gas giant's still bright disk. Of course Saturn's largest moon Titan is the easiest to spot in transit. In this telescopic snapshot from July 18, Titan itself is at the upper left, casting a round dark shadow on Saturn's banded cloudtops above the narrow rings. In fact Titan's transit season is in full swing now with shadow transits every 16 days corresponding to the moon's orbital period. Its final shadow transit will be on October 6, though Titan's pale disk will continue to cross in front of Saturn as seen from telescopes on planet Earth every 16 days through January 25, 2026. from NASA https://ift.tt/oDlQOgL

Have you ever seen a fireball? In astronomy, a fireball is a very bright meteor -- one at least as bright as Venus and possibly brighter than even a full Moon . Fireball s are rare -- if you see one you are likely to remember it for your whole life. Physically, a fireball is a small rock that originated from an asteroid or comet that typically leaves a fading smoke trail of gas and dust as it shoots through the Earth's atmosphere . It is unlikely that any single large ground strike occurred -- much of the rock likely vaporized as it broke up into many small pieces. The featured picture was captured last week from a deadwood beach in Cape San Blas , Florida , USA . from NASA https://ift.tt/2d7YP8p

Can some supernovas explode twice? Yes, when the first explosion acts like a detonator for the second. This is a leading hypothesis for the cause of supernova remnant (SNR) 0509-67.5 . In this two-star system , gravity causes the larger and fluffier star to give up mass to a smaller and denser white dwarf companion. Eventually the white dwarf 's near-surface temperature goes so high that it explodes, creating a shock wave that goes both out and in -- and so triggers a full Type Ia supernova near the center. Recent images of the SNR 0509-67.5 system, like the featured image from the Very Large Telescope in Chile , show two shells with radii and compositions consistent with the double detonation hypothesis . This system, SNR 0509-67.5 is also famous for two standing mysteries : why its bright supernova wasn't noted 400 years ago, and why no visible companion star remains. from NASA https://ift.tt/EDZi5XR

Nebulas are perhaps as famous for being identified with familiar shapes as perhaps cats are for getting into trouble . Still, no known cat could have created the vast Cat's Paw Nebula visible toward the constellation of the Scorpion ( Scorpius ). At 5,700 light years distant, Cat's Paw is an emission nebula within a larger molecular cloud. Alternatively known as the Bear Claw Nebula and cataloged as NGC 6334 , stars nearly ten times the mass of our Sun have been born there in only the past few million years. Pictured here is a recently released image of the Cat's Paw taken in infrared light by the James Webb Space Telescope . This newly detailed view into the nebula helps provide insight for how turbulent molecular cloud s turn gas into stars. from NASA https://ift.tt/r7sEv0e

About 1,300 images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft's wide angle camera were used to compose this spectacular view of a familiar face - the lunar nearside . But why is there a lunar nearside? The Moon rotates on its axis and orbits the Earth at the same rate, about once every 28 days. Tidally locked in this configuration, the synchronous rotation always keeps one side, the nearside, facing Earth . As a result, featured in remarkable detail in the full resolution mosaic , the smooth, dark , lunar maria (actually lava-flooded impact basins), and rugged highlands, are well-known to earthbound skygazers. To find your favorite mare or large crater, just follow this link or slide your cursor over the picture. The LRO images used to construct the mosaic were recorded over a two week period in December 2010. from NASA https://ift.tt/OLD9mKZ

The sixth object in Charles Messier's famous catalog of things which are not comets, Messier 6 is a galactic or open star cluster . A gathering of 100 stars or so, all around 100 million years young, M6 lies some 1,600 light-years away toward the central Milky Way in the constellation Scorpius . Also cataloged as NGC 6405, the pretty star cluster's outline suggests its popular moniker, the Butterfly Cluster . Surrounded by diffuse reddish emission from the region's hydrogen gas the cluster's mostly hot and therefore blue stars are near the center of this colorful cosmic snapshot. But the brightest cluster member is a cool K-type giant star. Designated BM Scorpii it shines with a yellow-orange hue, seen near the end of one of the butterfly's antennae. This telescopic field of view spans nearly 2 Full Moons on the sky. That's 25 light-years at the estimated distance of Messier 6. from NASA https://ift.tt/xtSvAKE

This month , bright planet Saturn rises in evening skies, its rings oriented nearly edge-on when viewed from planet Earth. And in the early morning hours on July 6, it posed very briefly with the International Space Station when viewed from a location in Federal Way, Washington, USA. This well-planned image, a stack of video frames, captures their momentary conjunction in the same telescopic field of view. With the ISS in low Earth orbit , space station and gas giant planet were separated by almost 1.4 billion kilometers. Their apparent sizes are comparable but the ISS was much brighter than Saturn and the ringed planet's brightness has been increased for visibility in the stacked image. Precise timing and an exact location were needed to capture the ISS/Saturn conjunction. from NASA https://ift.tt/2QpEsJP

Discovered on July 1 with the NASA-funded ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert, System) survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, 3I/ATLAS is so designated as the third known interstellar object to pass through our Solar System It follows 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and the comet 2I/Borisov in 2019. Also known as C/2025 N1 , 3I/ATLAS is clearly a comet, its diffuse cometary coma, a cloud of gas and dust surrounding an icy nucleus, is easily seen in these images from the large Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, Hawai‘i . The left panel tracks the comet as it moves across the sky against fixed background stars in successive exposures. Three different filters were used, shown in red, green, and blue. In the right panel the multiple exposures are registered and combined to form a single image of the comet. The comet's interstellar origin is also clear from its orbit , determined to be an eccentric, highly hyperbolic orbit that does not loop back around the Sun and will return 3I/A...

Would the Rosette Nebula by any other name look as sweet? The bland New General Catalog designation of NGC 2237 doesn't appear to diminish the appearance of this flowery emission nebula , as captured by the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Blanco 4-meter telescope at the NSF 's Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile . Inside the nebula lies an open cluster of bright young stars designated NGC 2244 . These stars formed about four million years ago from the nebular material and their stellar winds are clearing a hole in the nebula's center, insulated by a layer of dust and hot gas. Ultraviolet light from the hot cluster stars causes the surrounding nebula to glow . The Rosette Nebula spans about 100 light-years across, lies about 5000 light-years away , and can be seen with a small telescope towards the constellation of the Unicorn ( Monoceros ). from NASA https://ift.tt/4ZMLmv8

What's happened in Hebes Chasma on Mars? Hebes Chasma is a depression just north of the enormous Valles Marineris canyon. Since the depression is unconnected to other surface features, it is unclear where the internal material went. Inside Hebes Chasma is Hebes Mensa , a 5 kilometer high mesa that appears to have undergone an unusual partial collapse -- a collapse that might be providing clues. The featured image , taken by ESA's robotic Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars , shows great details of the chasm and the unusual horseshoe shaped indentation in the central mesa. Material from the mesa appears to have flowed onto the floor of the chasm , while a possible dark layer appears to have pooled like ink on a downslope landing. One hypothesis holds that salty rock composes some lower layers in Hebes Chasma , with the salt dissolving in melted ice flows that drained through holes into an underground aquifer . from NASA https://ift.tt/lF0Rwb3

What is going on with this galaxy? NGC 2685 is a confirmed polar ring galaxy - a rare type of galaxy with stars, gas and dust orbiting in rings perpendicular to the plane of a flat galactic disk. The bizarre configuration could be caused by the chance capture of material from another galaxy by a disk galaxy, with the captured debris strung out in a rotating ring. Still, observed properties of NGC 2685 suggest that the rotating helix structure is remarkably old and stable. In this sharp view of the peculiar system also known as Arp 336 or the Helix galaxy, the strange, perpendicular rings are easy to trace as they pass in front of the galactic disk, along with other disturbed outer structures. NGC 2685 is about 50,000 light-year s across and 40 million light-years away in the constellation of the Great Bear ( Ursa Major ). from NASA https://ift.tt/BEW3ASm

Why isn't this ant a big sphere? Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round. Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant -shaped nebula that is distinctly not round? Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star featured here at the nebula's center. One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star. A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas. Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth . from NASA https://ift.tt/rOjAGb5

As the Sun set, a bright Full Moon rose on July 10. Its golden light illuminates clouds drifting through southern hemisphere skies in this well-composed telephoto image from Conceição do Coité, Bahia, Brazil. The brightest lunar phase is captured here with both a short and long exposure. The two exposures were combined to reveal details of the lunar surface in bright moonlight and a subtle iridescence along the dramatically backlit cloudscape. Of course, July's Full Moon is a winter moon in the southern hemisphere. But in the north it's known to some as the Thunder Moon, likely a nod to the sounds of this northern summer month's typically stormy weather. from NASA https://ift.tt/4fAtWq3

Transfusing sunlight as the sky grew darker, this exceptional display of noctilucent clouds was captured on July 10 , reflected in the calm waters of Vallentuna Lake near Stockholm, Sweden. From the edge of space, about 80 kilometers above Earth's surface, the icy clouds themselves still reflect sunlight, even though the Sun is below the horizon as seen from the ground. Usually spotted at high latitudes in summer months, the night shining clouds have made a strong showing so far during the short northern summer nights. Also known as polar mesopheric clouds they are understood to form as water vapor driven into the cold upper atmosphere condenses on the fine dust particles supplied by disintegrating meteors or volcanic ash. from NASA https://ift.tt/C45Teua

Stars are forming in Lynds Dark Nebula ( LDN ) 1251. About 1,000 light-years away and drifting above the plane of our Milky Way galaxy, LDN 1251 is also less appetizingly known as "The Rotten Fish Nebula." The dusty molecular cloud is part of a complex of dark nebulae mapped toward the Cepheus flare region. Across the spectrum , astronomical explorations of the obscuring interstellar clouds reveal energetic shocks and outflows associated with newborn stars, including the telltale reddish glow from scattered Herbig-Haro objects hiding in the image. Distant background galaxies also lurk in the scene, almost buried behind the dusty expanse. This alluring telescopic frame spans almost three full moons on the sky. That corresponds to over 25 light-years at the estimated distance of LDN 1251. from NASA https://ift.tt/veBFdWM

The beautiful Trifid Nebula is a cosmic study in contrasts. Also known as M20 , it lies about 5,000 light-years away toward the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. A star forming region in the plane of our galaxy, the Trifid does illustrate three different types of astronomical nebulae; red emission nebulae dominated by light from hydrogen atoms, blue reflection nebulae produced by dust reflecting starlight, and dark nebulae where dense dust clouds appear in silhouette. But, the red emission region roughly separated into three parts by obscuring dust lanes is what lends the Trifid its popular name . Pillars and jets sculpted by newborn stars, above and right of the emission nebula's center, appear in famous Hubble Space Telescope close-up images of the region. The Trifid Nebula is about 40 light-years across. Too faint to be seen by the unaided eye, in this deep telescopic view it almost covers the area of a full moon on planet Earth's sky. from NASA https://ift.tt/...

If you have looked at the sky and seen a group of stars about the size of the full Moon, that's the Pleiades (M45) . Perhaps the most famous star cluster in the sky, its brightest stars can be seen even from the light-polluted cities . But your unaided eye can also see its nebulosity -- the gas and dust surrounding it -- under dark skies . However, telescopes can catch even more. The bright blue stars of the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters , light up their surrounding dust, causing it to appear a diffuse blue that can only be seen under long exposures. But that's not all. The cosmic dust appears to stretch upward like ethereal arms . And the entire structure is surrounded by a reddish glow from the most abundant element in the universe: hydrogen. The featured image is composed of nearly 25 hours of exposure and was captured last year from Starfront Observatory , in Texas , USA from NASA https://ift.tt/8LAidwB

It came from outer space. An object from outside our Solar System is now passing through at high speed. Classified as a comet because of its gaseous coma, 3I/ATLAS is only the third identified macroscopic object as being so alien . The comet's trajectory is shown in white on the featured map , where the orbits of Jupiter , Mars , and Earth are shown in gold, red, and blue. Currently Comet 3I/ATLAS is about the distance of Jupiter from the Sun -- but closing, with its closest approach to our Sun expected to be within the orbit of Mars in late October. Expected to pass near both Mars and Jupiter, 3I/ATLAS is not expected to pass close to the Earth. The origin of Comet 3I/ATLAS remains unknown . Although initial activity indicates a relatively normal comet , future observations about 3I/ATLAS ' composition and nature will surely continue. from NASA https://ift.tt/kKbw8We

Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars? Each winter this pole develops a new outer layer about one meter thick composed of carbon dioxide frozen out of the thin Martian atmosphere. This fresh layer is deposited on a water-ice layer that exists year round. Strong winds blow down from above the cap's center and swirl due to the spin of the red planet -- contributing to Planum Boreum 's spiral structure. The featured image is a perspective mosaic generated in 2017 from numerous images taken by ESA's Mars Express and elevations extracted from the laser altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission. from NASA https://ift.tt/KANjMJi

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-year s across. from NASA https://ift.tt/wGULKvu

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 couds 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 . from NASA https://ift.tt/BKIDa9b

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 expect...

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. from NASA https://ift.tt/UZTECLp ...

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 ? from NASA https://ift.tt/5EtxQmq

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-year s distant toward the well-groomed northern constellation of Berenice's Hair ( Coma Berenices ). from NASA https://ift.tt/bnjHwgJ

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 tree s 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 plume s indicating that the sand slides were occurring even while the image was being taken. from NASA https://ift.tt/DoZs0Ru