#apod

Supernumerary Rainbows over New Jersey Image Credit: John Entwistle Explanation: Yes, but can your rainbow do this? After the remnants of Hurricane Florence passed over the Jersey Shore, New Jersey, USA in 2018, the Sun came out in one direction but something quite unusual appeared in the opposite direction: a hall of rainbows. Over the course of the next half hour, to the delight of the photographer and his daughter, vibrant supernumerary rainbows faded in and out, with at least five captured in this featured single shot. Supernumerary rainbows only form when falling water droplets are all nearly the same size and typically less than a millimeter across. Then, sunlight will not only reflect from inside the raindrops, but interfere, a wave phenomenon similar to ripples on a pond when a stone is thrown in. In fact, supernumerary rainbows can only be explained with waves, and their noted existence in the early 1800s was considered early evidence of light's wave nature. https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-october-4-supernumerary-rainbows-over-new-jersey/ #apod

#astronomypictureoftheday #apod https://apod.vidry.ca/day/260927/en

#imageastrodujour #apod https://apod.vidry.ca/day/260921/fr

#astronomypictureoftheday #apod https://apod.vidry.ca/day/260921/en

#Analemma over the #CallanishStones #Astronomy #Picture of the Day https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260921.html #APOD #Scotland #UK

Analemma over the Callanish Stones Image Credit: Giuseppe Petricca Explanation: If you went outside at the same time every day and took a picture that included the Sun, how would the Sun's position change? A visual answer to that question is an analemma, a composite image taken from the same spot at the same time over the course of a year. The featured analemma was composed from images taken every few days at noon near the village of Callanish in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, UK. In the foreground are the Callanish Stones, a stone circle built around 2700 BC during humanity's Bronze Age. It is not known if the placement of the Callanish Stones has or had astronomical significance. The ultimate causes for the figure-8 shape of this and all analemmas are the tilt of the Earth axis and the ellipticity of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. At the solstices, the Sun will appear at the top or bottom of an analemma. The featured image was taken near the December solstice and so the Sun appears near the bottom. Equinoxes, however, correspond to analemma middle points -- not the intersection point. In two days there will be an equinox ("equal night"), when day and night are equal over all of planet Earth. Many cultures celebrate a change of season at an equinox. https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-september-20-analemma-over-the-callanish-stones/ #apod

A Zodiacal Night Image Credit: Neelam and Ajay Talwar (TWAN) Explanation: Also known as the false dawn, a luminous band of zodiacal light is captured in this dark night skyscape. The serene view was recorded just before the beginning of astronomical twilight during September's star party at the remote Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, Ladakh, India, planet Earth. At about 4,500 meters altitude, the dark sky reserve presents a haven for hardy stargazing and astrophotography enthusiasts. While meteors streak through the night, bright planet Jupiter appears immersed in the faint zodiacal glow near the eastern horizon. Follow the zodiacal band toward the zenith to find open star cluster M44 and a yellowish tinged planet Mars near the center of the frame. In fact, serendipitous detections of interplanetary dust by NASA's Juno spacecraft suggest Mars itself is the source of dust that back scatters sunlight and creates zodiacal light in planet Earth's night. https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-september-19-a-zodiacal-night/ #apod

#astronomypictureoftheday #apod https://apod.vidry.ca/day/260919/en

Astronomy photo of the day: A Zodiacal Night. Copyright: Neelam and Ajay Talwar Explanation: Also known as the false dawn, a luminous band of zodiacal light is captured in this dark night skyscape. The serene view was recorded just before the beginning of astronomical twilight during September's star party at the remote Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, Ladakh, India, planet Earth #APOD

#astronomypictureoftheday #apod https://apod.vidry.ca/day/260915/en

APOD: 2026 September 15 – A Daytime Eclipse: Moon Occults Venus http://dlvr.it/TVTk0C #APOD

Where Your Elements Came From Image Credit & Copyright: NASA GSFC's SVS Explanation: The hydrogen in your body and present in every molecule of water came from the Big Bang. There are no other appreciable sources of hydrogen in the universe. The carbon in your body was made by nuclear fusion in the interior of stars, as was the oxygen. Much of the iron in your body was made during supernovas of stars that occurred long ago and far away. The gold in your jewelry was likely made from neutron stars during collisions that may have been visible as short-duration gamma-ray bursts or gravitational wave events. Elements like phosphorus and copper are present in our bodies in only small amounts but are essential to the functioning of all known life. The featured periodic table is color coded to indicate humanity's best guess as to the nuclear origin of all known elements. The sites of nuclear creation of some elements, such as copper, are not really well known and are continuing topics of observational and computational research. https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-september-14-where-your-elements-came-from/ #apod

Comet NEOWISE Rising Over the Adriatic Sea Image Credit & Copyright: Paolo Girotti Explanation: This sight was worth getting out of bed early. Just over four years ago, Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) rose before dawn to the delight of northern sky enthusiasts awake that early. Up before sunrise on July 8th, the featured photographer was able to capture in dramatic fashion one of the few comets visible to the unaided eye this century, an inner-Solar System intruder that has become known as the Great Comet of 2020. The resulting video detailed Comet NEOWISE from Italy rising over the Adriatic Sea. The featured time-lapse video combines over 240 images taken over 30 minutes. The comet was seen rising through a foreground of bright and undulating noctilucent clouds, and before a background of distant stars. Comet NEOWISE remained unexpectedly bright for over a month, with its ion and dust tails found to emanate from a nucleus spanning about five kilometers across. https://science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-september-13-comet-neowise-rising-over-the-adriatic-sea/ #apod

The #Eclipse and the #Stork #Astronomy #Picture of the Day https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260903.html #APOD #SolarEclipse

The #Sky Turns Above #Paranal #Astronomy #Picture of the Day https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260828.html #APOD #Chile

APOD: 2026 August 10 – Three Galaxy Pairs http://dlvr.it/TTxLRl #APOD

Contemplating the Sun Image Credit & Copyright: Steven Gilbert Explanation: Have you contemplated your home star recently? Featured here, a Sun partially eclipsed on the top left by the Moon is also seen eclipsed by earthlings contemplating the eclipse below. This spectacular menagerie of silhouettes was taken in 2012 from the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area near Page, Arizona, USA, where park rangers and astronomers expounded on the unusual event to interested gatherers. Also, faintly visible on the Sun's disk, just to the lower right of the dark Moon's disk, is a group of sunspots. A new solar eclipse will occur this week and give many people in northern North America, Europe, and northwestern Africa a new chance to contemplate a partially eclipsed Sun. A thin swath of Earth through Greenland and Spain will further experience a total solar eclipse. An open question is whether any meteors from the peaking Perseids will be visible during totality. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260809.html #apod

Curious Cometary Knots in the Helix Nebula Image Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, JWST; Processing: A. Pagan (STScI) Explanation: What causes unusual knots of gas and dust in planetary nebulas? Seen also in the Ring Nebula, the Dumbbell Nebula and NGC 2392, the knots' existence was not initially predicted, and their origins are still not well understood. Pictured here is a fascinating image of part of the Helix Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope showing tremendous detail in infrared light. The cometary knots have masses similar to the Earth but have sizes typically several times the orbit of Pluto. One hypothesis for the fragmentation and evolution of the knots includes existing gas being driven out by a less dense but highly energetic stellar wind of the central evolving star. The Helix Nebula is one of the closest examples of a planetary nebula created at the end of the life of a Sun-like star. Given a technical designation of NGC 7293, the Helix Nebula lies about 650 light-years away towards the constellation of Water Carrier (Aquarius). https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260804.html #apod

A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia Image Credit & Copyright: Christa Harbig Explanation: What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms. Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc appears parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds present below -- in this case cirrus fibratus. The numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight in a collectively similar manner. Therefore, circumhorizontal arcs are somewhat unusual to see. The featured fire rainbow was photographed in 2021 near North Fork Mountain in West Virginia, USA. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260802.html #apod

Red Sun through Wildfire Smoke Image Credit & Copyright: Debra Ceravolo Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II) Explanation: This could be the view from an exoplanet orbiting around a red dwarf star, but it is our own Sun. This image was taken on July 22, 2026, in the Okanagan region in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Wildfire smoke from the Pacific Northwest acted as a solar filter, allowing the photographer to take this photo of the Sun directly. Several sunspots are also visible in this eerie image; just below and right of the center is AR 4493, a fast evolving, giant active solar region and sunspot group. The smoke is made of tiny particles that help block and scatter light with bluer colors, so the light we see coming from the Sun is dimmer and redder than usual (but it is never safe to stare directly at the Sun). Sunsets and sunrises are also more colorful because of the smoke. Some 6 billion years from now, the Sun will actually start to turn redder as it approaches its red giant phase. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260730.html #apod