Space can be a wondrous place, and we've got the pictures to prove it! Take a look at our favorite space pictures here, and if you're wondering what happened to today in space history don't miss our On This Day in Space video show here!
An X-Ray eye
Wednesday, May 8, 2024: This galactic eye staring at you from the infinite abyss is actually spiral galaxy NGC 4151. The galaxy lies about 43 million light-years from Earth, in the Cane Venatici constellation. According to NASA, the supermassive black hole at the center of NGC 4151 contains more than 20 million times the mass of our own sun.
This image is a composite created using the different spectral capabilities of three different high-powered telescopes. The central region, in blue, was captured with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. They red gasses surrounding the center are areas of hydrogen detected with radio observations from the Very Large Array, in New Mexico, and the yellow regions within show visible spectrum data of regions of recent star formations, and were captured using the 1-meter Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope on La Palma, in the Canary Islands.
Astronauts ready for flight
Tuesday, May 7, 2024: NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stand side by side in front of Boeing's Astrovan II, which drove them to the launchpad for last night's Starliner launch to the International Space Station. The two had just exited the Neil A. Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they got into their blue spacesuits ahead of their departure.
Unfortunately, last night's Starliner launch was scrubbed. About two hours before liftoff, launch operators detected problems with an oxygen relief valve on the Centaur Stage of the Atlas V rocket. Now, the launch is currently scheduled for no earlier than May 10.
It's not odd, it's irregular
Monday, May 6, 2024: This photo of the irregular galaxy NGC 4449 was submitted by Space.com reader Ron Brecher, who captured this image using his Celestron 14″ EDGE HD telescope.
The dwarf galaxy NGC 4449 is the first dwarf galaxy with an identified stellar stream . The star stream represents the remains of a smaller satellite galaxy merging with NGC 4449.
This isolated dwarf galaxy is about 12.4 million light-years away, and is classified as a "starburst galaxy," meaning it forms young stars at a very fast pace. Researchers have suspected the galaxy's hyperactivity and complexity might be due to it tangling with another galaxy.
National Space Day!
Friday, May 3, 2024: Happy National Space Day in the U.S.A.! Observed on the first Friday in May, National Space Day celebrates the accomplishments and benefits from history of spaceflight. The day is largely used to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education, and inspire people about the cosmos.
Here, ISS Expedition 71 cosmonaut Nikolai Chub gives a thumbs-up during a recent EVA. During Chub's four-hour and 36-minute spacewalk on April 25, he and fellow cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko deployed a synthetic radar communications system and installed experiments to monitor external station corrosion.
Sunrise from space
Thursday, May 2, 2024: The sun peaks through Earth's thin layer of atmosphere, captured here from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS spans about the size of an American football field, and sits above the planet in low-Earth orbit, at an average altitude of 254 miles (408 kilometers). As a result of this orbit, astronauts aboard the space station are able to witness a sunrise like the one pictured here every 45 minutes.
As the sun rises from behind our home planet in this photo, the faint light of our star reflects off Northrup Grumman's NG-20 Cygnus spacecraft docked with the station. Cygnus launched to the ISS Jan. 30, delivering over 8,000 pounds (3,600 kilograms) of supplies and research equipment.
Barred Spiral Galaxy
Wednesday, May 1, 2024: A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2217 (also known as AM 0619-271), swirling through space 65 million light-years away.
Called a "barred" galaxy because of the column of light reaching from opposite sides of the galactic center, these "bars" channel gasses from the galaxy's disk into its middle regions. These gasses then can form new stars, or serve as fuel for the galaxy's supermassive black hole. According to NASA, NGC 2217 is about the same size as our Milky Way galaxy, measuring roughly 100,000 light-years across, and can be found in the constellation of Canis Major.
Archives
Check out our Image of the Day Archives for more awesome photos.
Image of the Day 2020 Archive
Image of the Day 2019 Archive
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