This image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcases the emission nebula NGC 2313. via NASA https://ift.tt/3eM12NJ

A gorgeous spiral galaxy, M104 is famous for its nearly edge-on profile featuring a broad ring of obscuring dust lanes. Seen in silhouette against an extensive central bulge of stars, the swath of cosmic dust lends a broad brimmed hat-like appearance to the galaxy suggesting a more popular moniker, the Sombrero Galaxy. This sharp optical […]

NASA’s X-59 requires the use of creative and strategic supersonic technologies to control and soften the jarring sound as the aircraft flies faster than the speed of sound. via NASA https://ift.tt/3w41Djy

Closest to the Sun on March 1, and closest to planet Earth on April 23, this Comet ATLAS (C/2020 R4) shows a faint greenish coma and short tail in this pretty, telescopic field of view. Captured at its position on May 5, the comet was within the boundaries of northern constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting […]

Perseverance entry, descent, and landing lead Allen Chen, gives remarks during a NASA Perseverance rover mission landing update. via NASA https://ift.tt/3w3FFNw

Is the night sky darkest in the direction opposite the Sun? No. In fact, a rarely discernable faint glow known as the gegenschein (German for “counter glow”) can be seen 180 degrees around from the Sun in an extremely dark sky. The gegenschein is sunlight back-scattered off small interplanetary dust particles. These dust particles are […]

OSIRIS-REx bids farewell to Asteroid Bennu and begins its long journey home. via NASA https://ift.tt/2RJCMTk

What’s happening behind Uluru? A United Nations World Heritage Site, Uluru is an extraordinary 350-meter high mountain in central Australia that rises sharply from nearly flat surroundings. Composed of sandstone, Uluru has slowly formed over the past 300 million years as softer rock eroded away. In the background of the featured image taken in mid-May, […]

This June 2020 image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the galaxy cluster MACS J0416. via NASA https://ift.tt/3f1P15K

Clusters of stars can be near or far, young or old, diffuse or compact. The featured image shows two quite contrasting open star clusters in the same field. M35, on the lower left, is relatively nearby at 2800 light years distant, relatively young at 150 million years old, and relatively diffuse, with about 2500 stars […]