Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for June 30, 2025 is “NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy,” an image. It is credited to Image Credit: Rabeea Alkuwari & Anas Almajed. The original explanation runs about 145 words.

A spiral galaxy is shown with an unusual feature. Faint wisps of stars are seen both above and below the galaxy. A wisp above appears like an umbrella. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.
Credit: Image Credit: Rabeea Alkuwari & Anas Almajed Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“It’s raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small satellite galaxy .”

— APOD editors, June 30, 2025

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
June 30, 2025
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit: Rabeea Alkuwari & Anas Almajed
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 145 words

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Topics in this entry

Galaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: June 30 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.