Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

The Local Fluff

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for December 22, 2024 is “The Local Fluff,” an image. It is credited to Illustration Credit: NASA , SVS , Adler , U. Chicago , Wesleyan. The original explanation runs about 218 words.

An artist's illustration shows where our Sun resides relative to local interstellar gas. The direction of motion of the Sun and local gas is shown with arrows. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
Credit: Illustration Credit: NASA , SVS , Adler , U. Chicago , Wesleyan Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“The stars are not alone. In the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy , about 10 percent of visible matter is in the form of gas called the interstellar medium (ISM).”

— APOD editors, December 22, 2024

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
December 22, 2024
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Illustration Credit: NASA , SVS , Adler , U. Chicago , Wesleyan
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 218 words

All of December 2024 → · 2024 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The SunThe Milky WayGalaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: December 22 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.