Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

NGC 300: A Cosmic Gemstone with Stars and Gas Clouds

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for July 16, 2026 is “NGC 300: A Cosmic Gemstone with Stars and Gas Clouds,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Team Ciel Austral Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II )). The original explanation runs about 169 words.

A bright spiral galaxy shows stars and colorful clous of gas in red, green and blue colors. The background is a dark field of stars.
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Team Ciel Austral Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II ) Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“This sparkling, colorful gemstone is a spiral galaxy, NGC 300 . It is one of the closest spiral galaxies to Earth, only about 6 million light-years away.”

— APOD editors, July 16, 2026

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
July 16, 2026
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Team Ciel Austral Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II )
Copyright
Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 169 words

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Topics in this entry

GalaxiesSupernovae

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: July 16 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.