Image of the Day Archives
For older Image of the Day pictures, please visit the Image of the Day archives. Pictured: NGC 2467.
Hangin' Out in Space
Monday, April 2, 2018: NASA astronaut Drew Feustel dangles from the International Space Station some 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth during a spacewalk on Thursday (March 29). Feustel and his crewmate NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold spent 6 hours and 10 minutes doing maintenance outside of the orbiting lab in what was the 100th spacewalk performed by crewmembers living aboard the space station. — Hanneke Weitering
Space Station Crosses the Blue Moon
Tuesday, April 3, 2018: The International Space Station flies in front of the last Blue Moon of 2018 in this photo by Fred Pompei. He created this composite using images he captured on the evening of March 31 in St. Charles, Michigan. — Hanneke Weitering
Special Delivery!
Wednesday, April 4, 2018: SpaceX's Dragon cargo vessel arrived at the International Space Station today with 3 tons of food, supplies and science experiments for the Expedition 55 crew. This is the second time that this particular Dragon spacecraft has flown to the space station. It launched on a used Falcon 9 rocket on Monday (April 2). Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov captured this photo as the spacecraft approached the space station early this morning. — Hanneke Weitering
Guam Spotted From Space
Thursday, April 5, 2018: The island of Guam bears a striking resemblance to a short-legged llama in this photo by Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov. He captured the image from 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth at the International Space Station. — Hanneke Weitering
Migrating Martian Sands of Lobo Vallis
Friday, April 6, 2018: In this view from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, bands of bright ripples and dark dunes stretch across the surface of Mars. Over time, winds have pushed these sandy streaks, which are composed of basaltic sand, from the top of the image toward the bottom. This region of the Red Planet is known as Lobo Vallis and was named after a river on the Ivory Coast. — Hanneke Weitering
Jupiter's Swirling Storms
Monday, April 9, 2018: Elaborate cloud patterns swirl on Jupiter's northern hemisphere in this new view from NASA's Juno spacecraft. Juno captured the image on April 1 during its twelfth close flyby of Jupiter, when it was 7,659 miles (12,326 kilometers) from the planet's cloud tops. Citizen scientist Kevin Gill processed this color-enhanced view using data from the spacecraft's JunoCam imager. — Hanneke Weitering
Galaxies Glow Through Cosmic Dust
Tuesday, April 10, 2018: Countless stars and galaxies scatter across the cosmic field in this deep-space image by astrophotographer Terry Hancock. The large spiral galaxy near the center of the image is Messier 81, also known as Bode's Galaxy. Just below that is the Cigar Galaxy, Messier 82. Both are located around 12 million light-years away from Earth in the constellation Ursa Major. These galaxies are seen through the faint haze of the Integrated Flux Nebula, a vast screen of interstellar dust and gas illuminated by starlight from the Milky Way. — Hanneke Weitering
Coronal Loops Rotate Into View
Wednesday, April 11, 2018: Coronal loops billow out of the sun's surface in this view from NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory. This video shows the sun's new active region rotating into view on March 27-28. The Solar Dynamics Observatory views the sun in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths of light, which are invisible to the human eye, to monitor the sun's corona for solar flares. This active region shows magnetic field lines protruding from the sun's surface, but it has yet to produce any flares or solar storms. — Hanneke Weitering
Northern Lights Over the Aurora Ice Museum
Thursday, April 12, 2018: Green and purple northern lights shimmy over the Aurora Ice Museum at Chena Hot Springs near Fairbanks, Alaska in this image by astrophotographer John Chumack. He took the photo on March 24 during a minor geomagnetic storm caused by a coronal hole on the sun, which sent a stream of solar particles toward Earth. Those particles interact with Earth's atmosphere to create colorful auroras. — Hanneke Weitering
Crescent Moonrise
Friday, April 13, 2018: The waning crescent moon rises over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey's Monmouth Beach in this image by astrophotographer Steve Scanlon. He captured this view shortly before sunrise on March 15. — Hanneke Weitering
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
