Astronomy Picture of the Day · December 2025

APOD, December 2025

31 entries from December 2025: 28 images and 3 videos. 20 carry a copyright notice from the credited creator.

A starfield is shown around a comet. The green coma of the comet is on the lower left. A meandering blue-tinted tail goes off to the upper right. A slight anti-tail is seen from the coma toward the lower left. Please see the explanation for December 1, 2025 · Copyrighted

3I/ATLAS: Tails of an Interstellar Comet

Image Credit & Copyright: Victor Sabet & Julien De WinterA big beautiful sprawling spiral galaxy is shown. The galaxy has well defined spiral arms with bright blue star clusters and dark red dust. The center is a bright white. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 2, 2025

M77: Spiral Galaxy with an Active Center

Image Credit: Hubble , NASA , ESA , L. C. Ho , D. ThilkerThe illustration shows a structured orange band stretching horizontally across the imager. Connected in the middle is the Milky Way Galaxy curving up to the top of the frame. A second image of the orange band runs like a sine wave across th December 3, 2025

Visualization: Near a Black Hole and Disk

Illustration Credit: NASA ‘s GSFC , J. Schnittman & B. Powell ; Text: Francis Reddy ( U. Maryland , NASA’s GSFC )Galaxies in the Furnace December 4, 2025 · Copyrighted

Galaxies in the Furnace

Image Credit & Copyright: Simone Curzi and the ShaRA TeamThe Bipolar Jets of KX Andromedae December 5, 2025 · Copyrighted

The Bipolar Jets of KX Andromedae

Image Credit & Copyright: Tim Schaeffer and the Deep Sky CollectiveApollo 17 at Shorty Crater December 6, 2025

Apollo 17 at Shorty Crater

Image Credit: Apollo 17 Crew, NASAColors from red at the top to blue at the bottom occupy this spectral image. In the midst of the colors are some dark spots indicating missing colors. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 7, 2025

The Sun and Its Missing Colors

Image Credit: Nigel Sharp ( NSF ), FTS , NSO , KPNO , AURA , NSFFlying Over the Earth at Night December 8, 2025 · Video

Flying Over the Earth at Night

Video Credit: Gateway to Astronaut Photography , NASA ; Compilation: David Peterson (YouTube); Music: Freedom Fighters ( Two Steps from Hell )A starfield is shown with a brown and gold tinted dust structures in front of a glowing blue gas background. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 9, 2025 · Copyrighted

The Heart of the Soul Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Nicola BuginThe Horsehead Nebula December 10, 2025 · Copyrighted

The Horsehead Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: George ChatzifrantzisGalaxies in the River December 11, 2025 · Copyrighted

Galaxies in the River

Image Credit & Copyright: Vikas ChanderNorthern Fox Fires December 12, 2025 · Copyrighted

Northern Fox Fires

Image Credit & Copyright: Dennis LehtonenOrion and the Ocean of Storms December 13, 2025

Orion and the Ocean of Storms

Image Credit: NASA , Artemis 1Juno Flyby of Ganymede and Jupiter December 14, 2025 · Video

Juno Flyby of Ganymede and Jupiter

Video Credit: NASA , JPL-Caltech , SWRI , MSSS ; Animation: Koji Kuramura , Gerald Eichstädt , Mike Stetson; Music: VangelisA picturesque winter landscape is seen before a dark but busy sky. A stream and a house are visible in the foreground, while snow-capped mountains are seen on the far horizon. In the sky are many stars and many streaks caused by meteors. Al December 15, 2025 · Copyrighted

Gemini Meteors over Snow Capped Mountains

Image Credit & Copyright: Tomáš SlovinskýA dark landscape is back lit by a thunderstorm in the distance. A lone tree is visible near the center. Above the tree are two sky icons: the Andromeda Galaxy on the left and bright red sprites on the right. Please see the explanation for m December 16, 2025 · Copyrighted

Andromeda and Sprites over Australia

Image Credit & Copyright: JJ RaoA starfield surrounds the edges of a large nebula. The nebula, itself full of stars, has a blue glowing interior and an orange periphery dotted with dust pillars. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 17, 2025 · Copyrighted

W5: The Soul Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Jeffrey HorneJupiter and the Meteors from Gemini December 18, 2025 · Copyrighted

Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini

Image Credit & Copyright: David CruzLong Shadows of the Montes Caucasus December 19, 2025 · Copyrighted

Long Shadows of the Montes Caucasus

Image Credit & Copyright: Guy BardonA Solstice Sun Tattoo December 20, 2025 · Copyrighted

A Solstice Sun Tattoo

Image Credit & Copyright: Marcella PaceVideo December 21, 2025 · Video

Solstice on a Spinning Earth

Image Credit: Meteosat 9 , NASA , Earth Observatory , Robert SimmonThe sun is setting across a field in a clear sky. In the field are the famous stones of Stonehenge. The Sun peaks out from the center of the stone array. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 22, 2025 · Copyrighted

Sunset Solstice over Stonehenge

Image Credit & Copyright: English Heritage , Josh DuryTrees on a hilltop are seen in a starry sky but with clouds on the far horizon. A strange red circular band of light is seen in the sky. Near this band's center, some bright jellyfish like structures are visible. Please see the explanation December 23, 2025 · Copyrighted

Red Sprites and Circular Elves Lightning over Italy

Image Credit & Copyright: Valter BinottoA panel of six images shows a red dot in the center of each image. The instrument that took the image is listed on each image, along with a z number that is the cosmological redshift. Please see the explanation for more detailed information December 24, 2025

Mystery: Little Red Dots in the Early Universe

Image Credit: NASA , ESA , CSA , STScI , JWST ; Dale Kocevski ( Colby College )Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas Tree December 25, 2025 · Copyrighted

Unicorn, Fox Fur and Christmas Tree

Image Credit & Copyright: Michael Kalika3I/ATLAS Flyby December 26, 2025 · Copyrighted

3I/ATLAS Flyby

Image Credit & Copyright: Dan BartlettApollo 17's Moonship December 27, 2025

Apollo 17's Moonship

Image Credit: Apollo 17 , NASA , (Image Reprocessing: Andy Saunders )The ball of colorful stars is shown where the center is so dense with stars it is hard to identify individual stars. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 28, 2025

NGC 1898: Globular Cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Image Credit: ESA / Hubble & NASAA dark starfield surrounds a colorful nebula filled with tangled filaments. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. December 29, 2025 · Copyrighted

M1: The Crab Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Alan ChenA star filled sky shows bands of green and purple sky glow. In the foreground is a grassy field with clouds on the horizon. Most remarkably, a series of short streaks appear like a comet's tail up from the horizon toward the upper left. Ple December 30, 2025 · Copyrighted

An Artificial Comet

Image Credit & Copyright: Wang ChaoA starfield filled with a diffuse red glow has an unusual nebula on the lower left. The nebula has bright red filaments that curve down and appear to be reminiscent of a waterfall on Earth. Please see the explanation for more detailed infor December 31, 2025 · Copyrighted

HH-222: The Waterfall Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Mike Selby

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