Category: Image of the Day
Hoags Object: A Nearly Perfect Ring Galaxy
Is this one galaxy or two? This question came to light in 1950 when astronomer Arthur Hoag chanced upon this unusual extragalactic object. On the outside is a ring dominated by bright blue stars, while near the center lies a...
Venus and Jupiter on the Horizon
What are those two bright objects on the horizon? Venus and Jupiter. The two brightest planets in the night sky passed very close together — angularly — just two days ago. In real space, they were just about as far...
Comet Heart and Soul
The greenish coma of comet 21P/Giacobini-Zinner stands out at the left of this telephoto skyscape spanning over 10 degrees toward the northern constellations Cassiopeia and Perseus. Captured on August 17, the periodic comet is the known parent body of the...
The Pencil Nebula in Red and Blue
Having children that are 4 and 2 I know the look of these remnants very well, and I’m sure my daughter has drawn it on a piece of paper once or twice before. While the colours that they use are...
Stickney Crater
Stickney Crater, the largest crater on the martian moon Phobos, is named for Chloe Angeline Stickney Hall, mathematician and wife of astronomer Asaph Hall. Asaph Hall discovered both the Red Planet’s moons in 1877. Over 9 kilometers across, Stickney is...
Eclipsed Moon and Mars over Mountains
There is something unusual about this astronomically-oriented photograph. It’s not obvious — it was discovered only during post-processing. It is not the Moon, although capturing the Moon rising during a total lunar eclipse is quite an unusually interesting sight. (Other...
NGC 1360: The Robin’s Egg Nebula
Usually when you see large pockets of nebula cloud it is associated with the birth of a new star. In this case the cloud in the image takes up around 3 light-years and is the remnants of the final stages...
Total Solar Eclipse Corona in HDF
For anyone that is fortunate to be at the right place during a solar eclipse they state it as one of the most amazing experiences in their entire life. Many resolve to say they will travel anywhere in the world...
The Observable Universe
How far can you see? Everything you can see, and everything you could possibly see, right now, assuming your eyes could detect all types of radiations around you — is the observable universe. In visible light, the farthest we can...
Saturns Hyperion in Natural Color
Like a giant pummel stone for cleaning dead skin from the from the feet of the Gods, Hyperion is an amazing moon that is orbiting around Saturn. The Cassini spacecraft swooped past for a look in 2005 and 2010 and...