APOD: 2026 September 21 – Cocoon Nebula Wide Field

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 21 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. Cocoon Nebula Wide Field Explanation: When does a nebula look like a comet? In this crowded starfield covering over two degrees within the high-flying constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A…

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APOD: 2026 September 20 – Analemma over the Callanish Stones

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 20 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. Analemma over the Callanish Stones Explanation: If you went outside at the same time every day and took a picture that included the Sun, how would the Sun’s position change? A visual answer to that question is an…

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APOD: 2026 September 19 – A Zodiacal Night

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 19 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. Night SkyAnnotation A Zodiacal Night Explanation: Also known as the false dawn, a luminous band of zodiacal light is captured in this dark night skyscape. The serene view was recorded just before the beginning of astronomical twilight during…

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NASA Invites Media to Albania Artemis Accords Signing Ceremony

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Credit: NASA The Republic of Albania will sign the Artemis Accords during a ceremony at 12 p.m. EDT on Monday, Sept. 21, at NASA Headquarters in Washington, becoming the 73rd country signatory. NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson will host Albania’s Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Ferit Hoxha and Ambassador of the Republic of Albania to the United States Ervin Bushati for the ceremony, together with U.S. Department of State officials. This event is in person only. Media interested in attending must RSVP no later than 10 a.m. on Sept.…

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NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’

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5 min read NASA-JAXA XRISM Mission Sees Pulsar Gathering Companion’s ‘Wind’ Using data from the Japan-led XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) observatory, astronomers have directly observed a giant star’s outflow, called a stellar wind, being captured by its compact companion and providing the power source for strong X-ray flares. The research is part of NASA’s exploration of the extreme universe to better understand how the cosmos works. “We’ve never before seen clear indications of wind plasma falling onto a compact object,” said Roi Rahin, a researcher at UMBC (University of…

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NASA Awards SpaceX Three Crew Flights to Space Station

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Dragon spacecraft launches NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station on March 14, 2025. NASA/Aubrey Gemignani Editor’s note: This feature was updated on Sept. 18, 2026, to add additional details on mission readiness dates. To continue regular crew transportation to the International Space Station, NASA has awarded SpaceX three additional missions through a contract modification. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract, this change brings the total missions for SpaceX to 17 and helps NASA to…

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NASA’s Hubble Spots an Out-of-Sync Galaxy

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3 min read NASA’s Hubble Spots an Out-of-Sync Galaxy The spiral galaxy NGC 4698 shines in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Thilker, the MAUVE-HST Team Though the spiral galaxy in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope seems serene, it hides a chaotic secret. This galaxy is NGC 4698, and it lies about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. It’s one of over a thousand galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, the nearest large cluster of galaxies bound together by gravity. As a spiral…

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APOD: 2026 September 18 – Messier 33: The Triangulum Galaxy

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APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 September 18 –… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD Astronomy Picture of the Day 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. Messier 33: The Triangulum Galaxy Explanation: The small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, Messier 33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter,…

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NASA Awards Launch Services for StarBurst Gamma-Ray Detector

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Credit: NASA NASA has selected SpaceX to provide launch services for the agency’s StarBurst mission, a small satellite designed to investigate neutron star mergers and the origins of short gamma-ray bursts. StarBurst will launch aboard a Bandwagon rideshare mission on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida no earlier than 2028. The selection is a firm-fixed-price task order under NASA’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) launch services contract. This indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract allows NASA to acquire launch services during…

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