NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

Recent Episodes

2024 January 09 - Thor's Helmet

Posted January 9, 2024 •

In today's image, we see the nebula known as Thor's Helmet for its distinctive appearance. This is the nebula around a young Wolf-Rayet star. These...

2024 January 08 - The Phases of Venus

Posted January 8, 2024 •

In today's image, we see multiple images of Venus as taken a few years ago. We can see the cycle of phases that Venus goes through just like our own...

2024 January 07 - The Cat's Eye Nebula in Optical and X-Ray

Posted January 7, 2024 •

In today's image, we see the Cat's Eye Nebula, an example of a planetary nebula observed at both visible and optical wavelengths. A planetary nebula...

2024 January 06 - The Snows of Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Posted January 6, 2024 • 00:03:35

In today's image, we see a video clip from the Rosetta spacecraft from 2016 showing some snow from close to the surface of the comet. The Rosetta craft...

2024 January 05 - Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion

Posted January 5, 2024 • 00:03:51

In today's image, we see the central portion of the Orion Nebula, which includes the Trapezium star cluster. The brightest star in this cluster emits...