Ou4: The Giant Squid NebulaDifficult to capture, this mysterious, squid-shaped interstellar cloud spans nearly three full moons in planet Earth’s sky. Discovered in 2011 by French astro-imager Nicolas Outters, the Squid Nebula’s bipolar shape is distinguished here by the telltale blue emission from doubly ionized oxygen atoms. Though apparently…Read More

NGC 6946 and NGC 6939Face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 and open star cluster NGC 6939 share this cosmic snapshot, composed with over 68 hours of image data captured with a small telescope on planet Earth. The field of view spans spans about 1 degree or 2 full moons on the sky toward the northern constellation Cepheus. Seen through faint interstellar…Read More

Nova V462 Lupi Now VisibleIf you know where to look, you can see a thermonuclear explosion from a white dwarf star. Possibly two. Such explosions are known as novas and the detonations are currently faintly visible with the unaided eye in Earth’s southern hemisphere — but are more easily seen with binoculars. Pictured, Nova Lupi 2025 (V462 Lupi)…Read More

Milky Way Through Otago SpiresDoes the Milky Way always rise between these two rocks? No. Capturing this stunning alignment took careful planning: being in the right place at the right time. In the featured image taken in June 2024 from Otago, New Zealand, the bright central core of our Milky Way Galaxy, home to the many of our Galaxy’s 400…Read More

Eye Sky a DragonWhat do you see when you look into this sky? In the center, in the dark, do you see a night sky filled with stars? Do you see a sunset to the left? Clouds all around? Do you see the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy running down the middle? Do you see the ruins of an abandoned outpost on a hill? (The outpost is on Askold Island,…Read More