Image of the Day Archives

Latest about image of the day archives

a tall cylindrical spacecraft wrapped in gold foil can be seen through a round door in a large metal chamber

Moon lander preps for the lunar surface | Space photo of the day for May 5, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Blue Origin's MK1 moon lander has passed its tests in the vacuum chamber as NASA continues to develop the hardware needed to return astronauts to the moon.

4 Comments
Private Spaceflight
four bright yellow lines of light extend up into a starry night sky

Lasers take aim at a galaxy far, far away | Space photo of the day for May 4, 2026

By Brett Tingley published

Looking like a scene out of "Star Wars," this image shows the ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) beaming four separate lasers into the sky towards the Tarantula Nebula.

Astronomy
A black and white image of the landscape of Mars with crescent-shaped dunes.

Ice melts in the springtime on Mars | Space photo of the day for April 24, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Springtime has arrived at the Red Planet's Chasma Boreale, as this photo by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows.

Mars
colorful clouds of gas on a starry background

Nebula sparkles in new Hubble snapshot | Space photo of the day for April 23, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Hubble revisits the Trifid Nebula in a spectacular image, revealing it's expansive splendor.

2 Comments
Hubble Space Telescope
This is an image of Earth captured in space.

Celebrate Earth Day with this Artemis 2 shot | Space photo of the day for April 22, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Celebrating Earth Day with an image of Earth captured by NASA's Artemis 2 mission around the moon.

5 Comments
Earth
a streak of light crosses a starry sky above a dark earth below it

Astronauts photograph Lyrid meteor shower from ISS | Space photo of the day for April 21, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

NASA's Jessica Meir spotted the Lyrids from aboard the space station.

Human Spaceflight
A photograph of the moon, showing a portion of its far side.

A peek at the far side of the moon | Space photo of the day for April 20, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

The Artemis 2 astronauts captured a unique image of the moon's "dark side" during their historic April 2026 flyby.

The moon
A Hubble Space Telescope image of the barred spiral galaxy IC 486.

Hubble Space Telescope spots a mesmerizing spiral galaxy | Space photo of the day for April 17, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Hubble images never fail to amaze.

Galaxies
Researchers use DESI’s huge 3D map to study dark energy. Earth is at the center of this map, and every point is a galaxy.

3D dark energy map is mind-blowing | Space photo of the day for April 16, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Every single tiny point on the map is a galaxy.

2 Comments
Science
NASA astronauts Chris Williams holds his hand out, appearing to "hold" the Cygnus capsule from the ISS.

NASA astronauts joke around with an optical illusion on the ISS | Space photo of the day for April 15, 2026

By Chelsea Gohd published

Two NASA astronauts had some fun during the ISS' capture of a robotic cargo spacecraft on April 13, pretending to hold onto it from into the station.

Human Spaceflight
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