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!
In a star-studded galaxy far, far away...
Tuesday, January 7, 2025: New year, new milestone: A cosmic quirk of nature has allowed the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to capture images of 44 individual stars in a galaxy halfway across the observable universe — this region is so distant that astronomers once deemed identifying individual stars in it impossible, like using binoculars to spot dust grains inside craters on the moon. — Sharmila Kuthunur
Read more: James Webb Space Telescope spots record-breaking collection of stars in far-flung galaxy
Sol 1379: A Martian sunrise
Monday, January 6, 2025: The blazingly bright sun glares into the lens of Left Navigation Camera (Navcam) of NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars. Shining above the rolling hills of the red planet, the sun is seen here, over-exposed, hanging in the hazy Martian sky.
Perseverance sent this image back to Earth yesterday, on Sol 1379 — the number of Martian days the rover has been on the planet.
Related: Up and over! NASA's Mars rover Perseverance reaches rim of its Jezero Crater home (video)
Aurora Borealis keeps Santa awake in his down time
Friday, January 3, 2025: Don't you just hate it when you finish a long shift at work and some disturbance keeps you from nabbing some much-needed Zs? If so, spare a thought for Santa.
No sooner does St. Nick return to his home in Lapland for a well-earned rest after his annual Christmas Eve delivery schedule and the Northern Lights light up the skies with a breathtaking display. This light show, also known as the "Aurora Borealis," was captured on Wednesday (Jan. 1) from a ski slope in Levi, Lapland.
Rivaling any human-orchestrated firework display set for the New Year, this cosmic light show came courtesy of charged particles from the sun, blasted out in two coronal mass ejections (CME), striking Earth's planet-encompassing magnetic field.
Should Santa have attempted to get some rest from these unignorably stunning auroral displays, moving further south would have done little good. The celestial fireworks stretched as far toward the equator as California in the U.S., Austria, and Germany in Europe.
Read More: New Year's northern lights delight as powerful solar storms spark auroras across central US and Europe (photos)
Blue Origin fires up New Glenn rocket
Thursday, January 2, 2025: Blue Origin conducted the first hot fire test of its fully integrated New Glenn rocket on Dec. 27, 2024.
The 24-second test saw the upcoming New Glenn rocket fire all seven of its engines, the first time the company "operated the entire flight vehicle as an integrated system," Blue Origin wrote in an update.
The hotfire test comes ahead of New Glenn's planned first launch, which could some as soon as this month. The mission, known as NG-1, will see the massive new rocket launch the Blue Ring Pathfinder, a demonstrator for Blue Origin's versatile new spacecraft bus designed to deliver payloads to geostationary orbit (GEO) and beyond.
Read more: Blue Origin hot fires New Glenn rocket for first time and scores FAA license for test launch
Can't find the date you're looking for? It may have been a weekend or holiday, when we don't normally update our Image of the Day. Check out the IOD Archives for more!
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