astronomy picture of the day

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a stunning picture of the star cluster and the Flying Ghost Nebula surrounded by stardust. Stars are the most widely recognized astronomical objects, and represent the most fundamental building blocks of galaxies. They are celestial objects millions of years old floating in space. The older and bigger the star, the brighter it appears. They are formed in star-forming regions called Nebulae. The makeup of a Nebula consists of gases, mainly hydrogen and helium. Gravity within a…

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a mesmerizing snapshot of Auroras spiralling over the night-sky in Iceland. Scientists have long studied Auroras to better understand the workings of Earth's magnetic field and the solar wind. Auroras, also known as the Northern and Southern Lights, put on a mesmerizing show of lights in the night skies of the polar regions. Although auroras are usually green in colour, they can appear as pink sometimes too. Green auroras are formed when energy particles hit the oxygen atoms at…

NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day provides a mesmerizing view of the star-forming region known as Cone Nebula. The region of a galaxy where stars are forming at an especially high rate is known as a Star Nursery or a Nebula. These star-forming regions are usually found in the spiral arms of galaxies, where there is a high density of molecular clouds. Gravity within a molecular cloud causes the gas and dust to collapse, forming dense cores. As the cores grow denser and hotter, they begin to fuse hydrogen atoms into…

NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is a stunning image of a comet which is set to pass Earth closely next month. Comets are cosmic snowballs of frozen gases, rock and dust roughly the size of a small town. A comet also orbits the Sun, but unlike an asteroid, it's mostly composed of ice and dust. When a comet gets close to the Sun, its ice and dust content start to vaporize. So, when seen in a telescope, a comet appears fuzzy and has a tail. So, if you're an avid comet watcher, there is exciting news for you. A comet…

Surprisingly, NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is not a spectacular view of the cosmos, but a periodic table! Read on to know why. Each day, NASA features a different image of our fascinating universe along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Today, the image neither features any breathtaking image of a galaxy in the deep cosmos nor reveals an unseen image of our biggest star, our Sun. Instead, NASA dedicated today's astronomy picture of the day to the periodic table of elements. If you…