Contact (1997)

Huge 500,000-mile-wide hole opens in Sun

A vast 500,000-mile-wide coronal hole has opened in the Sun's atmosphere. The area measures over 62 times the diameter of Earth and is now shooting high-speed solar wind toward Earth. When such solar activity is directed at Earth, the resulting geomagnetic storms can potentially disrupt satellite operations, power grids, navigation systems, and radio communications. There may also be spectacular displays of aurora caused as the Earth's magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind. According to spaceweather.com, this wind is estimated to hit Earth by Friday (Jan. 31), resulting in G1 geomagnetic storm conditions.

While G1 storms are considered the mildest category, they can still have noticeable effects, particularly in terms of aurora visibility at higher latitudes.

This was shot from Roswell New Mexico using a canon 6D, rokinon 135mm, and star adventurer. I captured about 30x30" frames during the deepest part of the eclipse and stacked them here. All of the data for m45 and the faint nebula was acquired during the eclipse, no compositing from other images here!

Butterfly Nebula

The Butterfly Nebula, also known as NGC 6302, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Scorpius.

It is named for its striking appearance, which resembles the wings of a butterfly when viewed in certain images.

The nebula is approximately 3,800 light-years away from Earth.

Credits: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)

Perseid meteors over Stonehenge

Astronomy Picture of the Day

2025 January 28

Comet G3 ATLAS over Uruguay

A foreground grass field is shown below a distant field of stars. On the grass field are some trees. Dwarfing the trees, in the sky, is a comet with a long tail.

Image Credit & Copyright: Mauricio Salazar

Explanation: Comets can be huge. When far from the Sun, a comet's size usually refers to its hard nucleus of ice and rock, which typically spans a few kilometers -- smaller than even a small moon. When nearing the Sun, however, this nucleus can eject dust and gas and leave a thin tail that can spread to an enormous length -- even greater than the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Pictured, C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) sports a tail of sunlight-reflecting dust and glowing gas that spans several times the apparent size of a full moon, appearing even larger on long duration camera images than to the unaided eye. The featured image shows impressive Comet ATLAS over trees and a grass field in Sierras de Mahoma, San Jose, Uruguay about a week ago. After being prominent in the sunset skies of Earth's southern hemisphere, Comet G3 ATLAS is now fading as it moves away from the Sun, making its impressive tails increasingly hard to see.

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)

NASA Official: Amber Straughn

A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,

NASA Science Activation

& Michigan Tech. U.

The Lonely Neutron Star in Supernova E0102 72.3

Credits: NASA, CXC, ESO, F. Vogt et al., ESO, VLT, MUSE, NASA, STScI

Messier 96

Messier 96 (M96) is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation Leo.

It is part of the Leo I Group of galaxies and is approximately 35 million light-years away from Earth.

M96 has a diameter of about 100,000 light-years.

Credits: ESA/Hubble & NASA and the LEGUS Team; Acknowledgment: R. Gendler

Aurora behind the starliner

Stepping out on the front porch. Astronaut David Scott opens the hatch to check out the view during Apollo 9, March 1969. In this pic taken by fellow astronaut Rusty Schweickart, ‘Gumdrop’, the Command Service Module is docked with ‘Spider’, the Lunar Module. A9 was the 1st flight incorporating all Apollo spacecraft components. The 10 day mission was the 2nd launched by a Saturn V rocket.