Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya (APOD)

APOD: 2025 August 19 B Giant Galaxies in Pavo
18.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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.

APOD: 2025 August 18 B NGC 1309: A Useful Spiral Galaxy
17.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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-years, making it about one third the size of our larger Milky Way galaxy.

APOD: 2025 August 17 B Asperitas Clouds Over New Zealand
16.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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.

APOD: 2025 August 16 B A Cool GIF of a 2025 Perseid
15.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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...

APOD: 2025 August 15 B Moonlight, Planets, and Perseids
14.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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 poised above the eastern horizon in this early morning skyscape.

APOD: 2025 August 14 B M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
13.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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...

APOD: 2025 August 13 B Trapezium: In the Heart of Orion
12.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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.

APOD: 2025 August 12 B Perseids from Perseus
11.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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.

APOD: 2025 August 10 B Zodiacal Road
9.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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.

APOD: 2025 August 9 B Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS from Hubble
8.08.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

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/iOumuamua in 2017 and the comet 2I/Borisov in 2019.