**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
04 February 2026
**Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb**
Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. H. Kastner, RIT
Explanation:
Oh what a
tangled web
a planetary nebula can weave.
The Red Spider Planetary Nebula
shows the complex structure that can result when a
normal star ejects
its outer gases and becomes a
white dwarf star.
Officially tagged
NGC
6537, this two-lobed symmetric
planetary nebula
houses one of the
hottest white dwarfs ever observed,
probably as part of a binary star system.
Internal winds flowing out from the central stars,
have been measured in excess of 1,000 kilometers per second.
These
winds expand the
nebula, flow along the nebula's walls, and cause waves of hot
gas and
dust to collide.
Atoms
caught in these colliding shocks radiate light shown in the
featured false-color
infrared picture by the
James Webb Space Telescope.
The
Red Spider Nebula lies toward the constellation of the Archer
(Sagittarius).
Its distance is not well known but has been
estimated by some to be about 4,000 light-years.
#APOD #Astrogeek #Space #Universe #Astrophoto
Image Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, J. H. Kastner, RIT
Explanation:
Oh what a
tangled web
a planetary nebula can weave.
The Red Spider Planetary Nebula
shows the complex structure that can result when a
normal star ejects
its outer gases and becomes a
white dwarf star.
Officially tagged
NGC
6537, this two-lobed symmetric
planetary nebula
houses one of the
hottest white dwarfs ever observed,
probably as part of a binary star system.
Internal winds flowing out from the central stars,
have been measured in excess of 1,000 kilometers per second.
These
winds expand the
nebula, flow along the nebula's walls, and cause waves of hot
gas and
dust to collide.
Atoms
caught in these colliding shocks radiate light shown in the
featured false-color
infrared picture by the
James Webb Space Telescope.
The
Red Spider Nebula lies toward the constellation of the Archer
(Sagittarius).
Its distance is not well known but has been
estimated by some to be about 4,000 light-years.
#APOD #Astrogeek #Space #Universe #Astrophoto
APOD: 2026 February 3 β Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb
A different astronomy and space science
related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
Image Credit: Robert G. Lyons, Robservatory
Explanation:
What part of Orion is this?
Just north of the famous
Orion Nebula is a picturesque
star
forming region in
Orion's Sword that contains a lot of intricate
dust -- some of which appears blue
because it reflects the light of
bright embedded stars.
The region's popular name is the
Running Man Nebula because,
looked at from the right, part of the brown dust appears to be running legs.
Cataloged as
Sharpless 279,
the reflection nebula is not only part of the
constellation of
Orion, but part of the greater
Orion molecular cloud complex.
Light from the Running Man's bright stars, including
42 Orionis, the bright star closest to the
featured image center, is slowly
destroying and reshaping the surrounding dust,
which will likely be
completely gone in about 10 million years.
The nebula spans about 15
light years and lies about 1,500 light years away.
#APOD #Space #Astronomy #Science Astrophotography
Image Credit: NASA, MGS, MSSS
Explanation:
Mars has put on a happy face.
The Martian crater
Galle is famous because it has
internal markings that make it look like a face that is both
smiling
and winking.
These markings were
originally
discovered in the 1970s in pictures taken by the
Viking Orbiter.
The
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft that orbited
Mars from 1996 to 2006 captured the
featured picture.
Happy Face Crater and its iconic features were
formed by chance billions of years ago when a
city-sized asteroid
slammed into the Martian surface.
All rocky planets and moons in
our Solar System show
impact craters,
with the highest number of craters found on
Earth's Moon and the planet
Mercury.
Earth and
Venus
would show the most, though, were it not for weather and
erosion.
#APOD #GalleCrater #HappyFaceCrater #Mars #MartianGeology #ImpactCrater
Image Credit: NASA, Artemis I
Explanation:
On flight day 13
(November 28, 2022) of the Artemis 1 mission, the
Orion spacecraft reached its maximum distance from Earth.
At over 430,000 kilometers from Earth,
its distant retrograde orbit also puts
Orion nearly 70,000 kilometers from the Moon.
In the
same field of view
in this video frame from flight day 13,
planet and large natural satellite
even appear about the same apparent size from
the spacecraft's perspective.
On flight day 26
(December 11, 2022),
the uncrewed spacecraft
splashed down on its home world concluding the historic Artemis I
mission.
The Artemis II
mission,
carrying 4 astronauts around the moon and back
again, will launch no earlier than February 8.
#APOD #ArtemisI #FlightDay13 #OrionSpacecraft #MoonOrbit #EarthDistance
Image Credit: Robert Eder
Explanation:
NGC 1333 is seen in visible light as a
reflection nebula,
dominated by bluish hues characteristic of starlight reflected by
interstellar dust.
A mere 1,000 light-years distant toward the heroic constellation
Perseus,
it lies at the edge of a large,
star-forming molecular cloud.
This telescopic close-up spans
over two full moons on the sky or just
over 15 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 1333.
It shows details of the dusty region
along with telltale hints of contrasty red emission from
Herbig-Haro
objects, jets and shocked glowing gas
emanating from recently formed stars.
In fact, NGC 1333 contains hundreds of stars less than
a million years old, most still
hidden from optical telescopes
by the pervasive stardust.
The chaotic environment may be similar to one in which our own Sun
formed over 4.5 billion years ago.
#APOD #NGC1333 #StellarNursery #Perseus #ReflectionNebula #MolecularCloud
Image Credit: Mike Selby
Explanation:
Distorted galaxy NGC 2442
can be found in the southern constellation of the flying fish, (Piscis)
Volans.
Located about 50 million light-years away, the galaxy's two
spiral arms extending from a pronounced central bar give it a
hook-shaped appearance in this deep and colorful image,
with foreground stars scattered across the telescopic field of
view.
The image also reveals the distant galaxy's
obscuring dust lanes, young blue star clusters and
reddish star forming regions
surrounding a core of yellowish light from an older population of stars.
But the star forming regions seem more concentrated along
the drawn-out (upper right)
spiral arm.
The distorted structure is likely the result of an ancient
close encounter
with a smaller galaxy that lies off top left of the frame.
This telescopic field of view
spans over 200,000 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 2442.
#APOD #NGC2442 #Galaxy #Volans #SouthernSky #SpiralGalaxy
Image Credit: Daniel McCauley
Explanation:
In the vast Orion Molecular Cloud complex,
several bright blue nebulas are particularly apparent.
Pictured here in the center are two of the most prominent
reflection nebulas -
dust clouds lit by the
reflecting light of bright embedded
stars.
The more famous nebula is
M78,
in the image center, cataloged over 200 years ago.
To its upper left is the lesser known
NGC 2071.
Astronomers continue to
study these
reflection nebulas to
better understand how interior stars form.
The overall red glow is from diffuse
hydrogen gas
that covers much of the
Orion complex
that spans much of the
constellation of Orion.
Nearby in the
greater complex,
which lies about 1,500
light years away, are the
Orion Nebula,
the Horsehead Nebula, and
Barnard's Loop --
partially seen here as the white band on the upper left.
#APOD #M78 #OrionNebula #ReflectionNebula #OrionComplex #NGC2071
Image Credit: WΕodzimierz Bubak, Ogetay Kayali
Explanation:
Rising over a frozen valley in the
Tatra Mountains, the familiar stars and nebulas of
Orion dominate this wide-field nightscape.
The featured deep photo was
taken
in southern
Poland's
highest mountain range last month, where
dark skies and
alpine terrain combined to reveal both Earth's
rugged beauty and the structure of
our galaxy.
Above the snowy mountains,
Orion's bright belt stars
anchor a region of glowing interstellar clouds.
The Great Orion Nebula, a vast
stellar nursery visible even to the unaided eye,
shines near the center of the scene.
Surrounding it is the enormous arc of
Barnard's Loop,
a faint shell of
ionized hydrogen gas spanning much of the
constellation.
To the left, the round
Rosette Nebula glows softly,
while the grayish
Witch Head Nebula hovers to the right,
illuminated by nearby starlight.
Near the top, the orange supergiant
Betelgeuse
marks the hunter's shoulder.
#APOD #Orion #Stargazing #NightSky #TatraMountains #Poland
Image Credit: Wolfgang Promper, Ogetay Kayali
Explanation:
Can you see nebulas in other galaxies?
Yes, some
nebulas shine brightly enough -- if you know how to look.
Clouds of
hydrogen and
oxygen
emit light at very specific colors,
and by isolating them, astronomers and astrophotographers
can reveal structures that would otherwise be
too faint to notice.
This deep, 50-hour exposure highlights glowing
hydrogen (red) and
oxygen (blue) across galaxy
NGC 55, viewed nearly
edge-on.
Also known as the
String of Pearls Galaxy,
NGC 55 is often compared to our
Milky Way's satellite galaxy the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC),
although NGC 55 lies much farther away at about 6.5 million
light-years.
The resulting image
uncovers a sprinkling of
emission nebulas
within and sometimes above the galaxy's
dusty disk,
offering a detailed look at distant
star-forming regions.
#APOD #NGC55 #MilkyWayNeighbor #GalaxyOfNebulas #UnresolvedNebula #DeepSpace
Image Credit: NASA, LPL (U. Arizona), MRO, HiRISE
Explanation:
This moon is doomed.
Mars,
the red planet named for the
Roman god of war, has two tiny moons,
Phobos and
Deimos, whose
names are derived from the Greek for Fear and
Panic.
These Martian moons may well be captured
asteroids
originating in the main
asteroid belt between Mars and
Jupiter
or perhaps from even more distant reaches of
our Solar System.
The larger moon, Phobos, is indeed seen
to be a cratered, asteroid-like object in this
stunning color image from the robotic
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,
which can image objects as small as 10 meters.
But Phobos orbits
so close to Mars - about 5,800 kilometers above the
surface compared to 400,000 kilometers
for our Moon - that gravitational
tidal forces are dragging it down.
In perhaps 50 million years,
Phobos is expected to disintegrate
into a ring of debris.
#APOD #Phobos #Mars #MartianMoons #Astronomy #Astrophysics