Astronomy Picture of the Day · May 2026

APOD, May 2026

31 entries from May 2026: 27 images and 4 videos. 17 carry a copyright notice from the credited creator.

Markarian's Chain May 1, 2026 · Copyrighted

Markarian's Chain

Image Credit & Copyright: Chuck AyoubSeeing Titan May 2, 2026

Seeing Titan

Image Credit: VIMS Team, Univ. Arizona , U. Nantes , ESA , NASAA field of stars on the left is mirred by a wall of opaque brown dust on the right. Jutting out from the wall is a long pillar with a rounded end that has a prominent light- colored jet emanating toward the upper left. The stellar backgroun May 3, 2026

Trifid Pillars and Jets

Image Credit: NASA , ESA , STScI ; Processing: J. DePasquale ( STScI )Video May 4, 2026 · Video

Superplumes Inside Earth

Image Credit & License: Sanne Cottaar via Wikimedia CommonsA starry sky is seen above a snowy volcano peak. The sky is bright with many stars and red nebula. In the foreground is dark soil and green evergreen trees. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. May 5, 2026 · Copyrighted

Orion over Mount Teide

Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin RosadzińskiThe image shows two parellel rings of bright dots in the night sky. This is a composite image of the positions Saturn and Neptune traced in the sky from May 2025 to January 2026. The brighter ring in the foreground is Saturn, while the dimm May 6, 2026 · Copyrighted

The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune

Image Credit & Copyright: Tunç Tezel ( TWAN ) Text: Keighley Rockcliffe ( NASA GSFC , UMBC CSST , CRESST II )Video May 7, 2026 · Video

Supernova in a Sideways Spiral

Video Credit: Hunter Outten & Kaleb Jordan Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II )A starfield appears with three large objects. Near the top is a bright star. Near the middle is a small light blue nebula. And near the bottom is a comet with its long tail extending to the upper left and passing in front of both the star a May 8, 2026 · Copyrighted

Comet R3 PanSTARRS Before Rigel

Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák & Martin Mašek ( FZU of the Czech Academy of Sciences )Messier Craters in Stereo May 9, 2026 · Copyrighted

Messier Craters in Stereo

Image Credit: Apollo 11 , NASA ; Stereo Image Copyright Patrick VantuyneA starfield appears featuring a comet with a long tail that extends from the lower right to the upper left. To the left of the comet is a bright star, and above the comet and to the right is a red and white nebula. Please see the explanatio May 10, 2026 · Copyrighted

Comet R3 PanSTARRS and Orion

Image Credit & Copyright: Luc Perrot ( TWAN )Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano May 11, 2026 · Video · Copyrighted

Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano

Video Credit & Copyright: Daniel López ( El Cielo de Canarias ); Music: Piano della Moon ( Dan Silva )The bright blue Comet R3 PanSTARRS streaks across the right side of the image with the red cloud of the Orion Nebula in the background on the left. May 12, 2026 · Copyrighted

The Conjunction of Comet R3 PanSTARRS and the Orion Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Julien De Winter , Sascha Ebeler Text: Keighley Rockcliffe ( NASA GSFC , UMBC CSST , CRESST II )NGC 188: Old Cluster in the New General Catalog May 13, 2026 · Copyrighted

NGC 188: Old Cluster in the New General Catalog

Image Credit & Copyright: Neven KrcmarekA grid over a black background shows astronomical objects with different sizes, labeled from M1 to M110. May 14, 2026

Messier Catalog at Uniform Scale

Image Credit: Sylvain Villet Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II )A starfield appears featuring many bright stars, red nebula, and a comet. Snow covered mountains cover the foreground. The comet appears on the upper left with a tail the goes upward and right through a bright star. Please see the explanati May 15, 2026 · Copyrighted

R3 PanSTARRS: An Orion Comet

Image Credit & Copyright: Chester Hall-FernandezAurora Slathers Up the Sky May 16, 2026

Aurora Slathers Up the Sky

Image Credit: Jack Fischer , Expedition 52 , NASAThe featured image shows a the big beautiful barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 with encompassing spiral arms tinted blue from young stars. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. May 17, 2026

NGC 1300: Barred Spiral Galaxy

Image Credit: NASA ESA , Hubble HeritageUnraveling NGC 3169 May 18, 2026 · Copyrighted

Unraveling NGC 3169

Image Credit & Copyright: Simone Curzi and the ShaRA TeamA starfield surrounds a colorful nebula that glows both red and blue but is filled with dust, both light brown and dark brown. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. May 19, 2026 · Copyrighted

NGC 2170: The Angel Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Jason MarriottA dark and whispy cloud blocks the background light from surrounding gas and stars. It resembles the head, snout, and jaws of a wolf. May 20, 2026 · Copyrighted

The Dark Wolf Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: William Vrbasso Text: Keighley Rockcliffe ( NASA GSFC , UMBC CSST , CRESST II )On a dark background, galaxies are shown as fuzzy white dots. A bright blue spiral expands from the center. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. May 21, 2026

A Collision of Galaxy Clusters

Image Credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / CfA / C. Watson et al. ; Optical: PanSTARRS ; Image Processing: NASA / CXC / SAO / N. Wolk and P. Edmonds Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II )The Nebulous Realm of WR 134 May 22, 2026 · Copyrighted

The Nebulous Realm of WR 134

Image Credit & Copyright: Luigi Morrone and Telescope LiveMessier 2 May 23, 2026

Messier 2

Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA , G. Piotto et al.Video May 24, 2026 · Video

A Martian Eclipse: Phobos Crosses the Sun

Video Credit: NASA , JPL-Caltech , ASU MSSS , SSIA starfield with a blue background shows several unusual brown globs. They are generally irregularly shaped. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. May 25, 2026 · Copyrighted

Thackeray's Globules

Image Credit & Copyright: John HayesA starfield is shown showing two prominent galaxies. Near the top is a bright spiral galaxy with several blue spiral arms. Near the bottom is a fainter circular galaxy with a bright center. Please see the explanation for more detailed infor May 26, 2026 · Copyrighted

NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy

Image Credit & Copyright: Adam Block , El Sauce Obs.A bubble of gas occupies the center of the image with a few stars in the fore- and background. On opposite sides of the bubble, there are two regions where the gas pinches inward. This makes the inner region of the nebula appear like a pean May 27, 2026 · Copyrighted

PK 164 +31.1: The Headphone Nebula

Image Credit & Copyright: Bernard Miller Text: Keighley Rockcliffe ( NASA GSFC , UMBC CSST , CRESST II )A white nebula over a black background with a bright star in the center. May 28, 2026

NGC 1514: The Crystal Ball Nebula

Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA ; Image Processing: J. Miller & M. Rodriguez ( International Gemini Observatory / NSF NOIRLab ), T.A. Rector ( University of Alaska Anchorage / NSF NOIRLab ), D. de Martin & M. Zamani ( NSF NOIRLab ) Text: Cecilia Chirenti ( NASA GSFC , UMCP , CRESST II )Messier 104 May 29, 2026

Messier 104

Image Credit: CTIO , NOIRLab , DOE , NSF , AURA ; Image Processing: T. A. Rector ( U. Alaska Anchorage ), D. de Martin ( NSF ’s NOIRLab ) & M. Zamani (NSF, NOIRLab)Two images of Earth's Moon are shown, both in full phase. The left moon image, labelled Supermoon, is slightly larger than the right moon image, labelled Micromoon. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. May 30, 2026

Supermoon Versus Micromoon

Image Credit: Soumyadeep MukherjeeA starfield surrounds three large brown pillars of dark dust. The pillars are shown vertically. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. May 31, 2026

Eagle Nebula Pillars in Infrared from Hubble

Image Credit: NASA , ESA , Hubble , HLA ; Processing: Luis Romero Ventura

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