NASA astronaut Victor Glover greets one of his youngest fans, 3-year-old Ezra Garrel. via NASA https://ift.tt/bpPjifL

Sharp telescopic views of NGC 3628 show a puffy galactic disk divided by dark dust lanes. Of course, this portrait of the magnificent, edge-on spiral galaxy puts some astronomers in mind of its popular moniker, the Hamburger Galaxy. It also reveals a small galaxy nearby (below), likely a satellite of NGC 3628, and a very […]

In this image, World View’s Stratollite high-altitude balloon is inflated on the launch pad in Tucson, Arizona on April 9, 2022. via NASA https://ift.tt/Gub9tq3

In the early hours of April 24 this bright Lyrid meteor flashed along the central Milky Way. For a moment, it cast a bright reflection across Lake Nian, Yunnan province, China. The annual Lyrid meteor shower, one of the oldest known, is active in late April, as our fair planet plows through dust left along […]

The mission launched April 27, 2022. via NASA https://ift.tt/QdaSTJX

What is that large dark spot on Jupiter? It’s the shadow of Io, one of Jupiter’s largest moons. When Jupiter’s moons cross between the Jovian giant and the Sun, they created shadows just like when the Earth’s moon crosses between the Earth and the Sun. Also like on Earth, if you were in a dark […]

This Hubble Space Telescope image features two merging galaxies in the VV-689 system, nicknamed the Angel Wing. via NASA https://ift.tt/wsy4AOH

The world is waking up to a picturesque planet parade. Just before dawn, the eastern skies over much of planet Earth are decorated by a notable line of familiar planets. In much of Earth’s northern hemisphere, this line of planets appears most nearly horizontal, but in much of Earth’s southern hemisphere, the line appears more […]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a batch of the company’s Starlink internet satellites lifts off from Launch Complex 40. via NASA https://ift.tt/oKBiV5e

In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebulas. The Keyhole Nebula (NGC 3324), the bright structure just below the image center, houses several of these massive stars. […]