Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya (APOD)

Jupiter with the Great Red Spot
9.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

Jupiter reaches its 2026 opposition today, January 10. That puts our Solar System's most massive planet opposite the Sun and near its closest and brightest for viewing from planet Earth. In fact, captured...

Ice Halos by Moonlight and Sunlight
8.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

Both Moon and Sun create beautiful ice halos in planet Earth's sky. In fact, the two brightest celestial beacons are each surrounded by a complex of ice halos in these photos of the sky above Chamonix-Mont-Blanc in France.

IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
7.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

Similar in size to large, bright spiral galaxies in our neighborhood, IC 342 is a mere 10 million light-years distant toward the long-necked, northern constellation Camelopardalis. A sprawling island universe, IC 342 would otherwise...

APOD: 2026 January 7 B Simeis 147: The Spaghetti Nebula Supernova Remnant
6.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

Its popular nickname is the Spaghetti Nebula. Officially cataloged as Simeis 147 and Sharpless 2-240, it is easy to get lost following the looping and twisting filaments of this intricate supernova remnant. Seen toward...

APOD: 2026 January 6 B Jupiters Clouds in High Definition from Juno
5.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

How complex is Jupiter? NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter is finding the Jovian giant to be more complicated than expected. Jupiter's magnetic field has been discovered to be much different from our Earth's simple dipole field, showing several poles embedded in a complicated network more convoluted in the north than the south.

APOD: 2026 January 5 B The Red Rectangle Nebula from Hubble
4.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

How was the unusual Red Rectangle nebula created? At the nebula's center is an aging binary star system that surely powers the nebula but does not, as yet, explain its colors. The unusual...

APOD: 2026 January 4 B The Einstein Cross Gravitational Lens
3.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

Most galaxies have a single nucleus -- does this galaxy have four? The strange answer leads astronomers to conclude that the nucleus of the surrounding galaxy is not even visible in this image. The central cloverleaf is rather light emitted from a background quasar.

Full Moonlight
2.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

The Full Moon is the brightest lunar phase, and tonight you can stand in the light of the first Full Moon of 2026. In fact, the Moon's full phase occurs on January...

NanoSail D2
1.01.2026 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

In 2011, on January 20, NASA's NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very thin and very reflective 10 square meter sail becoming the first solar sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff...

Auroral Corona
31.12.2025 | Astronomicheskaya kartinka dnya

Cycle 25 solar maximum made 2025 a great year for aurora borealis (or aurora australis) on planet Earth. And the high level of solar activity should extend into 2026. So, while you're celebrating the arrival of the new year, check out this spectacular auroral display that erupted in starry night skies over Kirkjufell, Iceland.