Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 April 11
The featured image shows a time-lapse silhouette of the International Space Station (ISS) crossing the face
of the Sun. The Sun shows filaments, prominences and a sunspot.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Space Station Crosses a Busy Sun
Image Credit & Copyright: Wang Letian (Eyes at Night)

The International Space Station is only visible at night. The International Space Station can be seen as a bright spot in the night sky several times a year. After sunset or before sunrise, the International Space Station is visible only because it shines by reflected sunlight, and it will fall out of sight once it enters the Earth's shadow. When the sun is in front of the ISS is the only time it is visible during the day. Only cameras that take short exposures can freeze the silhouette of the International Space Station on the Sun. A series of images taken earlier this month from Beijing, China are the featured picture. This image series was combined with other images taken at the same time to highlight the activity on the Sun. There were numerous gaseous prominences seen around the edge, highlighted in red, and a dark sunspot.

Tomorrow's picture: cosmic seahorse < | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.


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Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2022 April 12
The featured image shows the dark nebula N11 which
appears in the Large Magellanic Cloud -- a satellite galaxy
of our Milky Way. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

N11: Star Clouds of the LMC
Image Credit: NASA, ESA; Processing: Josh Lake

Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Large Magellanic Cloud is visible on the upper right of many images of the home galaxy, the Milky Way. The Hubble Space Telescope took the featured image for scientific purposes. The entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to the Tarantula Nebula. Young stars are visible around the image. A recent study of variable stars in the LMC with Hubble has helped to calibrate the distance scale of the observable universe, but resulted in a slightly different scale than found using the pervasive Cosmic Microwave Background.

Astrophysicists: Browse 2,700+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
Tomorrow's picture: sky tower

< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.