images.json

[
  {
    "copyright": "Dominique Dierick",
    "date": "2019-11-10",
    "explanation": "Tomorrow -- Monday --  Mercury will cross the face of the Sun, as seen from Earth. Called a transit, the last time this happened was in 2016.  Because the plane of Mercury's orbit is not exactly coincident with the plane of Earth's orbit, Mercury usually appears to pass over or under the Sun.  The featured time-lapse sequence, superimposed on a single frame, was taken from a balcony in Belgium shows the entire  transit of 2003 May 7.  That solar crossing lasted over five hours, so that the above 23 images were taken roughly 15 minutes apart.  The north pole of the Sun, the Earth's orbit, and Mercury's orbit, although all different, all occur in directions slightly above the left of the image. Near the center and on the far right, sunspots are visible. After Monday, the next transit of Mercury will occur in 2032.   Watch: the November 11 Transit of Mercury from Earth or from Space.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/MercuryTransit_Dierick_1500.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Mercury Transit Sequence",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1911/MercuryTransit_Dierick_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2009-08-23",
    "explanation": "What are those strange blue objects?  Many of the brightest blue images are of a single, unusual, beaded, blue, ring-like galaxy which just happens to line-up behind a giant cluster of galaxies.  Cluster galaxies here typically appear yellow and -- together with the cluster's dark matter -- act as a gravitational lens.  A gravitational lens can create several images of background galaxies, analogous to the many points of light one would see while looking through a wine glass at a distant street light.  The distinctive shape of this background galaxy -- which is probably just forming -- has allowed astronomers to deduce that it has separate images at 4, 10, 11, and 12  o'clock, from the center of the cluster.  A blue smudge near the cluster center is likely another image of the same background galaxy.  In all, a recent analysis postulated that at least 33 images of 11 separate background galaxies are discernable.  This spectacular photo of galaxy cluster CL0024+1654 from the Hubble Space Telescope was taken in November 2004.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090823.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0908/cl0024images_hst_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Giant Cluster Bends, Breaks Images",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0908/cl0024images2_hst.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2001-05-04",
    "explanation": "The Orion Nebula is a nuturing stellar nursery filled with hot young stars and their natal clouds of gas and dust. But for planetary systems, the active star-forming region can present a hazardous and inhospitable birthplace. While the formation of dusty protoplanetary disks seems common in Orion, these Hubble Space Telescope close-up images dramatically reveal the torturous conditions they must face while trying to grow into full-fledged planetary systems. In each case, a central young star is surrounded by a disk substantially wider than our solar system. The disks likely contain material in the process of planet formation. However, withering ultraviolet radiation from one of Orion's nearby hot stars is rapidly destroying the disks -- ultimately creating the comet-shaped clouds of glowing gas seen engulfing the protoplanetary systems. Planet formation must occur quickly here, if at all. Researchers estimate that about 90 percent of Orion's youngest protoplanetary disks will not survive the next 100,000 years.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0105/protoplan_hst_col1.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Protoplanetary Survivors in Orion",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0105/protoplan_hst_col1.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Spaceflightnow.com",
    "date": "2009-08-14",
    "explanation": "This early morning skyscape was captured last week on August 4th, looking northeast across calm waters in the Turn Basin at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. In a striking contrast in motion, the space shuttle Discovery, mounted on a massive transporter, creeps toward launch pad 39A at less than two miles per hour, while a brilliant meteor streaks through the sky traveling many miles per second. Of course, this week skywatchers have seen many similar meteor streaks during the annual Perseid meteor shower. But the meteor flashing above Discovery is not likely to be one of the Perseids because its path doesn't point back to that shower's radiant. Seen here near picture center, brilliant planet Venus still dominates the sky as the Morning Star, though. Yellowish tinted Mars lies near the top of the frame and Orion's red giant star Betelgeuse is toward the right.    digg_url ='http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090814.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0908/sts128rolloutMeteor_full.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Shuttle and Meteor",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0908/sts128rolloutMeteor_900.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1998-07-23",
    "explanation": "This dramatic artist's vision shows a city-sized neutron star centered in a disk of hot plasma drawn from its enfeebled red companion star. Ravenously accreting material from the disk, the neutron star spins faster and faster emitting powerful particle beams and pulses of X-rays as it rotates 400 times a second. Could such a bizarre and inhospitable star system really exist in our Universe? Based on data from the orbiting Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite, research teams have recently announced a discovery which fits this exotic scenario well - a \"millisecond\" X-ray pulsar. The newly detected celestial X-ray beacon has the unassuming catalog designation of SAX J1808.4-3658 and is located a comforting 12,000 light years away in the constellation Sagittarius. Its X-ray pulses offer evidence of rapid, accretion powered rotation and provide a much sought after connection between known types of radio and X-ray pulsars and the evolution and ultimate demise of binary star systems.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9807/millisec_pulsar_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "X-Ray Pulsar",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9807/millisec_pulsar.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Tun\ufffd Tezel",
    "date": "2004-11-08",
    "explanation": "What are those bright objects in the morning sky?  Early morning dog walkers, among many others across our world's Northern Hemisphere, have likely noticed tremendously bright Venus hanging in the eastern sky just before sunrise.  Looking a bit like an approaching airplane, Venus holds its place in the sky and never seems to land.  Last week, impressive but less bright Jupiter appeared within a degree of the Venusian orb, creating a dazzling sky that you might appreciate a bit more than your dog.  This night sky early show will change slightly over the next week, with the planets moving past each other, Mars moving into the picture, guest stars like Spica appearing to shift in the background, and even a crescent Moon stopping in for a cameo.  Pictured above last week, Jupiter and Venus were photographed rising before the Sun over the city of Bursa, Turkey.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0411/jupven_tezel_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Jupiter and Venus at Sunrise",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0411/jupven_tezel.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2012-11-25",
    "explanation": "They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice.  When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even when the image was being taken.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1211/almosttrees_mro_2560.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Dark Sand Cascades on Mars",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1211/almosttrees_mro_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1996-11-17",
    "explanation": "The bright object in the center of the false color image above is quasar 3C279 viewed in gamma-rays, photons with more than 40 million times the energy of visible light. Like all quasars, 3C279 is a nondescript, faint, starlike object in the visible sky. Yet, in June of 1991 a gamma-ray telescope onboard NASA's orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory unexpectedly discovered that it was one of the brightest objects in the gamma-ray sky. Shortly after this image was recorded the quasar faded from view at gamma-ray energies. Astronomers are still trying to understand what causes these enigmatic objects to flare so violently. Another quasar, 3C273, is faintly visible above and to the right of center.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/gamma_3c279_egret.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Quasar in the Gamma-Ray Sky",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/gamma_3c279_egret.gif"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "E. Israel",
    "date": "2000-12-25",
    "explanation": "If you look closely at the shadow of this tree, you will see something quite unusual: it is composed of hundreds of images of a partially eclipsed Sun. Early today, trees across North America will be casting similar shadows as a partial eclipse of the Sun takes place.  In a partial eclipse, the Moon does not cover the entire Sun.  The above effect is created by small spaces between leaves and branches acting as pinhole lenses.  Looking at shadows involving eclipse light is relatively safe - looking directly at the Sun, even during an eclipse, is dangerous and proper precautions should be taken.  The above picture was taken in 1994 on the campus of Northwestern University.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0012/eclipsetree_ejisrael_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Eclipse Tree",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0012/eclipsetree_ejisrael.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2017-01-11",
    "explanation": "Mimas is an icy, crater-pocked moon of Saturn a mere 400 kilometers (250 miles) in diameter. Its largest crater Herschel is nearly 140 kilometers wide. About a third the diameter of Mimas itself, Herschel crater gives the small moon an ominous appearance, especially for scifi fans of the Death Star battlestation of Star Wars fame. In fact, only a slightly bigger impact than the one that created such a large crater on a small moon could have destroyed Mimas entirely. In this Cassini image from October 2016, the anti-Saturn hemisphere of the synchronously rotating moon is bathed in sunlight, its large crater near the right limb. Casting a long shadow across the crater floor, Herschel's central mountain peak is nearly as tall as Mount Everest on planet Earth.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1701/PIA20515MimasMountain.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Mimas, Crater, and Mountain",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1701/PIA20515MimasMountain1020.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1996-07-15",
    "explanation": "In buildings eight stories tall rest mirrors ten meters across that are slowly allowing humanity to map the universe. Alone, each is the world's largest optical telescope: Keck. Together, the twin Keck telescopes have the resolving power of a single telescope 90-meter in diameter, able to discern sources just milliarcseconds apart. Since opening in 1992, the real power of Keck I (left) has been in its enormous light-gathering ability - allowing astronomers to study faint and distant objects in our Galaxy and the universe. Keck II, completed earlier this year, and its twin are located on the dormant volcano Mauna Kea, Hawaii, USA. In the distance is Maui's volcano Haleakala. One reason Keck was built was because of the difficultly for astronomers to get funding for a smaller telescope.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/keck_pjs.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Keck: The Largest Optical Telescope",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/keck_pjs.gif"
  },
  {
    "date": "2021-03-21",
    "explanation": "No one knew that 2,000 years ago, the technology existed to build such a device.  The Antikythera mechanism, pictured, is now widely regarded as the first computer. Found at the bottom of the sea aboard a decaying Greek ship, its complexity prompted decades of study, and even today some of its functions likely remain unknown.  X-ray images of the device, however, have confirmed that a main function of its numerous clock-like wheels and gears is to create a portable, hand-cranked, Earth-centered, orrery of the sky, predicting future star and planet locations as well as lunar and solar eclipses.  The corroded core of the Antikythera mechanism's largest gear is featured, spanning about 13 centimeters, while the entire mechanism was 33 centimeters high, making it similar in size to a large book. Recently, modern computer modeling of missing components is allowing for the creation of a more complete replica of this surprising ancient machine.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2103/antikythera_wikipedia_1036.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Antikythera Mechanism",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2103/antikythera_wikipedia_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Damian Peach",
    "date": "2015-11-28",
    "explanation": "Not a bright comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko now sweeps slowly through planet Earth's predawn skies near the line-up of planets along the ecliptic. Still, this composite of telescopic images follows the comet's progress as it moves away from the Sun beyond the orbit of Mars, from late September (left) through late November (far right). Its faint but extensive coma and tails are viewed against the colorful background of stars near the eastern edge of the constellation Leo. A year ago, before its perihelion passage, the comet was less active, though. Then the Rosetta mission's lander Philae made its historic landing, touching down on the surface of the comet's nucleus.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/67p_sepnov_dp.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Rosetta and Comet Outbound",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/67p_sepnov_dp_600h.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Wally Pacholka",
    "date": "2009-02-19",
    "explanation": "Aloha and welcome to a breathtaking skyscape. The dreamlike panoramic view looks out from the 4,200 meter volcanic summit of Mauna Kea, Hawai'i, across a layer of clouds toward a starry night sky and the rising Milky Way. Anchoring the scene on the far left is the dome of the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), with north star Polaris shining beyond the dome to the right. Farther right, headed by bright star Deneb, the Northern Cross asterism is embedded along the plane of the Milky Way as it peeks above the horizon. Both Northern Cross and brilliant white Vega hang over a foreground grouping of cinder cones. Near the center are the reddish nebulae, stars and dust clouds of the central Milky Way. Below, illumination from the city lights of Hilo creates an eerie, greenish glow in the clouds. Red supergiant star Antares shines above the Milky Way's central bulge while bright Alpha Centauri lies still farther right, along the dusty galactic plane. Finally, at the far right is the large Gemini North Observatory. The compact group of stars known as the Southern Cross is just left of the telescope dome. Need some help identifying the stars?  Just slide your cursor over the picture, or download this smaller, labeled panorama.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090219.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0902/MKMilkyWaypan_pacholka_600WPAP.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Mauna Kea Milky Way Panorama",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0902/MKMilkyWaypan_pacholka_600WPAP.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2001-08-30",
    "explanation": "Newly discovered minor planet 2001 KX76 is circled in the top panel above, a recent composite image from the European Southern Observatory's 2.2 meter telescope at La Silla, Chile. Though 2001 KX76 appears here as single point of light in an unremarkable star field, its orbit has been accurately measured by Astrovirtel, a newly operational \"virtual telescope\" capable of mining many years of archival data for previously unrecognized images of 2001 KX76. The results show this minor planet to be very distant, now orbiting just beyond Pluto and Charon in the realm of the Kuiper Belt. At its distance, apparent brightness, and assuming a reasonable surface reflectivity, 2001 KX76 would be 1,200 kilometers or more across -- larger than the largest main-belt asteroid, Ceres. In fact, the illustration in the bottom panel graphically compares this size estimate to Pluto, Charon, and the largest previously known Kuiper Belt objects, indicating the newfound minor planet is second only to Pluto in diameter. Along with other evidence, the comparison suggests that Pluto and Charon are closely related to Kuiper Belt worlds like 2001 KX76.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0108/2001kx76_eso_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "How Big Is 2001 KX76?",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0108/2001kx76_eso_a.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Elias Chasiotis",
    "date": "2019-12-28",
    "explanation": "Yes, but have you ever seen a sunrise like this?  Here, after initial cloudiness, the Sun appeared to rise in two pieces and during partial eclipse, causing the photographer to describe it as the most stunning sunrise of his life.  The dark circle near the top of the atmospherically-reddened Sun is the Moon -- but so is the dark peak just below it.  This is because along the way, the Earth's atmosphere had a layer of unusually warm air over the sea which acted like a gigantic lens and created a second image.  For a normal sunrise or sunset, this rare phenomenon of atmospheric optics is known as the Etruscan vase effect. The featured picture was captured two mornings ago from Al Wakrah, Qatar.  Some observers in a narrow band of Earth to the east were able to see a full annular solar eclipse -- where the Moon appears completely surrounded by the background Sun in a ring of fire.  The next solar eclipse, also an annular eclipse, will occur in 2020 June.    Notable Images Submitted to APOD: The Partial Solar Eclipse of 2019 December",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1912/DistortedSunrise_Chasiotis_2442.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Distorted Sunrise Eclipse",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1912/DistortedSunrise_Chasiotis_1080.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Fritz Helmut Hemmerich",
    "date": "2017-04-25",
    "explanation": "What's happened to Comet Lovejoy? In the pictured image, a processed composite, the comet was captured early this month after brightening unexpectedly and sporting a long and intricate ion tail. Remarkably, the typically complex effect of the Sun's wind and magnetic field here caused the middle of Comet Lovejoy's ion tail to resemble the head of a needle.  Comet C/2017 E4 (Lovejoy) was discovered only last month by noted comet discoverer Terry Lovejoy.  The comet reached visual magnitude 7 earlier this month, making it a good target for binoculars and long duration exposure cameras. What's happened to Comet Lovejoy (E4) since this image was taken might be considered even more remarkable -- the comet's nucleus appeared to be disintegrating and fading as it neared its closest approach to the Sun two days ago.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1704/CometLovejoyE4_Hemmerich2_2180.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Split Ion Tail for Comet Lovejoy E4",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1704/CometLovejoyE4_Hemmerich2_1080.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Rich Richins",
    "date": "2010-06-17",
    "explanation": "Of the many comets named for discoverer Robert McNaught, the one cataloged as C/2009 R1 is gracing dawn skies for northern hemisphere observers this month.  Seen here on June 13th from southern New Mexico, this Comet McNaught's long ion tail sweeps across the telescopic field of view (a negative image is inset). Remarkably, the ion tail easily stretches past background star cluster NGC 1245 (upper left) in the constellation Perseus, about 1.5 degrees from the comet's lovely greenish head or coma. The coma also sports a short, stubby, dust tail. Of course, the comet and background stars move at different rates through planet Earth's skies. But a digital processing of many short exposures allowed frames of comet and stars to be separated, registered, and recombined in the final image. To see the comet separate from the background stars, just slide your cursor over the image. The recombined frames show off both the rich star field and faint details of the comet. Easy to spot in binoculars for now, McNaught will sink into the twilight along the eastern horizon in the coming days as it heads toward perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on July 2.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1006/CometMcNaught2009R1a_richins.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Comet McNaught Passes NGC 1245",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1006/CometStarsInset_richins900.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2000-07-14",
    "explanation": "Impact craters are common on Earth's moon but on Jupiter's large ice moon Europa, they are very rare. Over time, both bodies have been subjected to an intense pounding by the solar system's formative debris, but geological activity on Europa's surface seems to have erased most of these impact scars. This false-color infrared image from the Galileo spacecraft's NIMS instrument shows a newly discovered crater on Europa as a light red ring feature near center surrounding a dark core. For scale, the dark core is about 29 kilometers in diameter. Only seven comparably large craters have now been identified on Europa's surface. Red colors in the image represent a relatively pure water ice composition while blue colors indicate that other minerals are present. The crater's central dark area may contain the remnants of the impacting body. The icy crust of Europa is of great interest, as evidence mounts that it covers an ocean of liquid water, possibly providing suitable conditions for life.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0007/europacrater1_gal_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Crater On Ice",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0007/europacrater2_gal.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "D. BanfieldP. D. NicholsonCornellPalomar Obs.JPLNASA",
    "date": "2003-10-20",
    "explanation": "How's the weather on Neptune?  Tracking major weather patterns on the Solar System's outermost gas giant can help in the understanding of global weather patterns here on Earth.  Each summer for the past five years, Neptune has been imaged and major weather patterns studied.  The latest picture, taken on September 15, is shown above in false color.  Visible in pink near Neptune's lower right is a new storm dubbed Annabelle that is several times larger than her terrestrial sister Isabel, a concurrent storm system that occurred here on Earth.  Although Isabel lasted a few weeks, no one knows how long Annabelle will endure.  On the upper right is Neptune's largest moon Triton, an unusual moon that sports volcanoes that spew ice.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0310/neptune_palomar_big.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Neptune and Triton from Palomar",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0310/neptune_palomar.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Babak Tafreshi",
    "date": "2016-03-10",
    "explanation": "A dark Sun hangs in the clearing sky over a volcanic planet in this morning sea and skycape. It was taken during this week's total solar eclipse, a dramatic snapshot from along the narrow path of totality in the dark shadow of a New Moon. Earth's Indonesian isle of Ternate, North Maluku lies in the foreground. The sky is still bright near the eastern horizon though, beyond the region's flattened volcanic peaks and outside the Moon's umbral shadow. In fact, near the equator the dark lunar umbra is rushing eastward across Earth's surface at about 1,700 kilometers (1,100 miles) per hour.  Shining through the thin clouds, around the Sun's silhouette is the alluring glow of the solar corona, only easily seen during totality. An inspiring sight for eclipse watchers, this solar corona is the tenuous, hot outer atmosphere of the Sun.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/tseTafreshi_DSC5231Ps.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Dark Sun over Ternate",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1603/tseTafreshi_DSC5231Ps1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "T. A. Rector",
    "date": "2007-01-01",
    "explanation": "Ten thousand years ago, before the dawn of recorded human history, a new light must suddenly have appeared in the night sky and faded after a few weeks.  Today we know this light was an exploding star and record the colorful expanding cloud as the Veil Nebula.  Pictured above is the west end of the Veil Nebula known technically as NGC 6960 but less formally as the Witch's Broom Nebula.  The rampaging gas gains its colors by impacting and exciting existing nearby gas.  The supernova remnant lies about 1400 light-years away towards the constellation of Cygnus.  This Witch's Broom actually spans over three times the angular size of the full Moon.  The bright star 52 Cygnus is visible with the unaided eye from a dark location but unrelated to the ancient supernova.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0701/veil_noao_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0701/veil_noao.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1997-02-27",
    "explanation": "What's that fuzzy star? It's not a star, it's Comet Hale-Bopp.\r Not only has Comet Hale-Bopp become\r easy to see in the morning sky,\r it has become hard not to see it. It's that bright. Any\r morning just before sunrise, look towards the east.\r Comet Hale-Bopp\r is one of the brightest objects up. Its dominating presence\r is shown dramatically by this photo taken just west of Williston,\r North Carolina,\r USA. Here Comet Hale-Bopp\r shines above the telephone poles lining Highway 70. Too tired\r to get up in the morning to see the comet? Don't worry, in less\r than a month it will also be visible in the evening sky, just\r before sunset. And it will have a longer tail.\r From the Space Shuttle, Dr. Steven Hawley says, \"Hale-Bopp looks great.\"",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9702/halebopp1_tf.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Comet Hale-Bopp is That Bright\r\nCredit and Copyright:",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9702/halebopp1_tf_small.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Yuri BeletskyESO",
    "date": "2008-05-07",
    "explanation": "Is the night sky darkest in the direction opposite the Sun? No. In fact, a rarely discernable faint glow known as the gegenschein (German for \"counter glow\") can be seen 180 degrees around from the Sun in an extremely dark sky. The gegenschein is sunlight back-scattered off small interplanetary dust particles.  These dust particles are millimeter sized splinters from asteroids and orbit in the ecliptic plane of the planets.  Pictured above from last October is one of the most spectacular pictures of the gegenschein yet taken. Here a deep exposure of an extremely dark sky over Paranal Observatory in Chile shows the gegenschein so clearly that even a surrounding glow is visible.   In the foreground are several of the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescopes, while notable background objects include the Andromeda galaxy toward the lower left and the Pleiades star cluster just above the horizon.  The gegenschein is distinguished from zodiacal light near the Sun by the high angle of reflection.  During the day, a phenomenon similar to the gegenschein called the glory can be seen in reflecting air or clouds opposite the Sun from an airplane.    digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080507.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0805/gegenschein_eso_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Gegenschein Over Chile",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0805/gegenschein_eso.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ant\ufffdnio Cidad\ufffdo",
    "date": "2007-09-02",
    "explanation": "Our Moon's appearance changes nightly.  This time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle.  As the Moon orbits the Earth, the half illuminated by the Sun first becomes increasingly visible, then decreasingly visible.  The Moon always keeps the same face toward the Earth.  The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and a slight wobble called a  libration is discernable as it progresses along its elliptical orbit. During the cycle, sunlight reflects from the Moon at different angles, and so illuminates different features differently.  A full lunation takes about 29.5 days, just under a month (moon-th). Click on the picture to view the animated gif file.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0709/lunation_ajc.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Lunation",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0709/lunation_ajc_big.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2015-11-25",
    "explanation": "Why are there unusual pits on Pluto? The indentations were discovered during the New Horizons spacecraft's flyby of the dwarf planet in July. The largest pits span a kilometer across and dip tens of meters into a lake of frozen nitrogen, a lake that sprawls across Sputnik Planum, part of the famous light-colored heart-shaped region named Tombaugh Regio.  Although most pits in the Solar System are created by impact craters, these depressions look different -- many are similarly sized, densely packed, and aligned.  Rather, it is thought that something has caused these specific areas of ice to sublimate and evaporate away.  In fact, the lack of overlying impact craters indicates these pits formed relatively recently.  Even though the robotic New Horizons is now off to a new destination, it continues to beam back to Earth new images and data from its dramatic encounter with Pluto.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/PlutoPits_NewHorizons_1480.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Unusual Pits Discovered on Pluto",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1511/PlutoPits_NewHorizons_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "J. B. KalerUIUC",
    "date": "2000-08-07",
    "explanation": "A planet has been found orbiting a Sun-like star only 10 light-years away.  No direct picture of the planet was taken - the planet was discovered by the gravitational wobble it created on its parent star, Epsilon Eridani.  The discovery marks the closest Sun-like star yet found to house an extra-solar planet.  Pictured above, the star Epsilon Eridani is visible near the belt of Orion to the unaided eye.  The detected planet is thought to have a mass like Jupiter but orbit slightly closer in.  The elliptical nature of the planet's orbit raises questions about whether the nearly circular orbits of planets in our own Solar System are relatively uncommon. It is unknown whether other planets exist around Epsilon Eridani.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0008/epseri_kaler_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Nearby Star Episilon Eridani Has a Planet",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0008/epseri_kaler.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2007-10-14",
    "explanation": "It's the dim star, not the bright one, near the center of NGC 3132 that created this odd but beautiful planetary nebula.  Nicknamed the Eight-Burst Nebula and the Southern Ring Nebula, the glowing gas originated in the outer layers of a star like our Sun.  In this representative color picture, the hot blue pool of light seen surrounding this binary system is energized by the hot surface of the faint star.  Although photographed to explore unusual symmetries, it's the asymmetries that help make this planetary nebula so intriguing.  Neither the unusual shape of the surrounding cooler shell nor the structure and placements of the cool filamentary dust lanes running across NGC 3132 are well understood.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0710/ngc3132_hst_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "NGC 3132: The Eight Burst Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0710/ngc3132_hst.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2001-02-19",
    "explanation": "Tomorrow's picture: Massive Star  < | Archive | Index | Search | Calendar | Glossary | Education | About APOD | >  Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA) NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply. A service of: LHEA at NASA/ GSFC & Michigan Tech. U.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0102/sts98plume_nasa.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Shuttle Plume Shadow Points to Moon",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0102/sts98plume_nasa.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ignacio\nDiaz Bobillo",
    "date": "2019-02-16",
    "explanation": "NGC 2359 is a helmet-shaped cosmic cloud with wing-like appendages popularly called Thor's Helmet. Heroically sized even for a Norse god, Thor's Helmet is about 30 light-years across. In fact, the helmet is more like an interstellar bubble, blown as a fast wind from the bright, massive star near the bubble's center inflates a region within the surrounding molecular cloud. Known as a Wolf-Rayet star, the central star is an extremely hot giant thought to be in a brief, pre-supernova stage of evolution. NGC 2359 is located about 15,000 light-years away in the constellation Canis Major. The remarkably detailed image is a mixed cocktail of data from broadband and narrowband filters that captures natural looking stars and the glow of the nebula's filamentary structures. It highlights a blue-green color from strong emission due to oxygen atoms in the glowing gas.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1902/thor_LHORHGOBO_final.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "NGC 2359: Thor's Helmet",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1902/thor_LHORHGOBO_final1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Petr Hor\ufffdlek",
    "date": "2014-07-29",
    "explanation": "To some, it may look like a portal into the distant universe. To others, it may appear as the eye of a giant. Given poetic license, both are correct. Pictured above is a standard fisheye view of the sky -- but with an unusual projection. The view is from a perch in  New Zealand called Te Mata Peak, a name that translates from the Maori language as \"Sleeping Giant\". The wondrous panorama shows the band of our Milky Way Galaxy right down the center of the sky, with the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds visible to the right. The red hue is atmospheric airglow that surprised the photographer as it was better captured by the camera than the eye.  The above image was taken two weeks ago as the photographer's sister, on the left, and an acquaintance  peered into the sky portal.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1407/SkyPortal_horalek_1500.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Sky Portal in New Zealand",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1407/SkyPortal_horalek_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2014-10-15",
    "explanation": "What is that changing object in a cold hydrocarbon sea of Titan? Radar images from the robotic Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn have been recording the surface of the cloud-engulfed moon Titan for years. When imaging the flat -- and hence radar dark -- surface of the methane and ethane lake called Ligeia Mare, an object appeared in 2013 just was not there in 2007. Subsequent observations in 2014 found the object remained -- but had changed! The featured image shows how the 20-km long object has appeared and evolved. Current origin speculative explanations include bubbling foam and floating solids, but no one is sure. Future observations may either resolve the enigma or open up more speculation.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1410/titanthing_cassini_2000.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Mysterious Changing feature on Titan",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1410/titanthing_cassini_1080.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "CHART32 Team",
    "date": "2017-06-30",
    "explanation": "Point your telescope toward the high flying constellation Pegasus and you can find this expanse of Milky Way stars and distant galaxies. Dominated by NGC 7814, the pretty field of view would almost be covered by a full moon. NGC 7814 is sometimes called the Little Sombrero for its resemblance to the brighter more famous M104, the Sombrero Galaxy. Both Sombrero and Little Sombrero are spiral galaxies seen edge-on, and both have extensive halos and central bulges cut by a thin disk with thinner dust lanes in silhouette. In fact, NGC 7814 is some 40 million light-years away and an estimated 60,000 light-years across. That actually makes the Little Sombrero about the same physical size as its better known namesake, appearing smaller and fainter only because it is farther away. Very faint dwarf galaxies, potentially satellites of NGC 7814, have been discovered in deep exposures of the Little Sombrero.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1706/NGC7814Chart32_c80.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "NGC 7814: The Little Sombrero in Pegasus",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1706/NGC7814Chart32_c40.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Tahir Sisman",
    "date": "2009-06-16",
    "explanation": "Is the Moon larger when near the horizon?  No -- as shown above, the Moon appears to be very nearly the same size no matter its location on the sky.  Oddly, the cause or causes for the common Moon Illusion are still being debated. Two leading explanations both hinge on the illusion that foreground objects make a horizon Moon seem farther in the distance.  The historically most popular explanation then holds that the mind interprets more distant objects as wider, while a more recent explanation adds that the distance illusion may actually make the eye focus differently.  Either way, the angular diameter of the Moon is always about 0.5 degrees.  In the above time-lapse sequence of the Moon taken in 2007, with one exposure taken to bring up the foreground of Izmit Bay in Turkey.  On the occasion of our 14th anniversary, the APOD editors thank all of our contributors and mirror site operators whose volunteer efforts help bring the wonders of astronomy to millions of people around the world. Additional thanks also go to our Turkish mirror site operators for submitting the above mouseover image.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090616.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0906/moonrise_sisman_orig.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Moonrise Over Turkey",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0906/moonrise_sisman.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Robert Gendler",
    "date": "2002-02-13",
    "explanation": "Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula.  The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away.  The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion. The above image has been contrast balanced to bring out Orion's detail in spectacular fashion.  Visible simultaneously are the bright stars of the Trapezium in Orion's heart, the sweeping lanes of dark dust that cross the center, the pervasive red glowing hydrogen gas, and the blue tinted dust that reflects the light of newborn stars.  The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0202/orion_gendler_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Great Nebula in Orion",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0202/orion_gendler.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Igor Vin'yaminov",
    "date": "2013-04-25",
    "explanation": "The dark, inner shadow of planet Earth is called the umbra. Shaped like a cone extending into space, it has a circular cross section and is most easily seen during a lunar eclipse. But the complete cross section is larger than the Moon's angular size in the stages of an eclipse. Still, this thoughtful composite illustrates the full extent of the circular shadow by utilizing images from both partial and total eclipses passing through different parts of the umbra. The images span the years 1997 to 2011, diligently captured with the same optics, from Voronezh, Russia. Along the bottom and top are stages of the partial lunar eclipses from September 2006 and August 2008 respectively. In the rightside bottom image, the Moon is entering the umbra for the total eclipse of September 1997. At left bottom, the Moon leaves the umbra after totality in May 2004. Middle right, center, and left, are stages of the total eclipse of June 2011, including the central, deep red total phase. During today's brief partial lunar eclipse seen only from the eastern hemisphere, the Moon will just slightly graze the umbra's lower edge.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1304/LunarEclipsesVinyaminov.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Lunar Eclipses",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1304/LunarEclipsesVinyaminov900c.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Galaxy Images",
    "date": "2003-10-23",
    "explanation": "Looking toward the constellation Cygnus, a stunning and complex region of nebulae strewn along the plane of our Milky Way galaxy is revealed in this unique wide-angle sky view. Recorded with a filter designed to transmit light emitted by hydrogen atoms, the image emphasizes cosmic gas clouds in a 34 by 23 degree field centered on the well known Northern Cross asterism. Bright, hot, supergiant star Deneb (the top of the cross) and popular celestial sights such as the North America and Pelican emission regions, the IC 1318 \"butterfly\", and the Crescent and Veil nebulae can be identified by placing your cursor over the image. Silhouetted by the glowing interstellar clouds and crowded star fields, the dark Northern Coal Sack is also visible, part of a series of obscuring dust clouds forming the Great Rift in the Milky Way. These Cygnus nebulosities are all located about 2,000 light-years away. Along with the Sun, they lie within the Orion spiral arm of our galaxy.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0310/cygnusha_mandel_full.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Cygnus Nebulosities",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0310/cygnusha_mandel_c3.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2001-02-05",
    "explanation": "Why isn't this ant a big sphere?  Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round.  Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round?  Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star visible above at the nebula's center.  One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star.  A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas.  Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0102/mz3_hst_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0102/mz3_hst.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Dan DurdaSwRI",
    "date": "2001-10-18",
    "explanation": "Pluto's horizon spans the foreground in this artist's vision, gazing sunward across that distant and not yet explored world. Titled New Horizons, the painting also depicts Pluto's companion, Charon, as a darkened, ghostly apparition with a luminous crescent against a starry background. Beyond Charon, the diminished Sun is immersed in a flattened cloud of zodiacal dust. Here, Pluto's ruddy colors are based on existing astronomical observations while imagined but scientifically tenable details provided by the artist include high atmospheric cirrus and dark plumes from surface vents, in analogy to Neptune's large moon Triton explored by the Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1989. Craters suggest bombardment by Kuiper Belt objects, a newly understood population of outer solar system bodies likely related to the Pluto-Charon system. NASA is now considering a future robotic reconnaissance mission to Pluto-Charon and the Kuiper Belt which could reach the distant worlds late in the next decade.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0110/newhorizons_durda_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Pluto: New Horizons",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0110/newhorizons_durda.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Derek Demeter",
    "date": "2018-08-16",
    "explanation": "The brief flash of a bright Perseid meteor streaks across the upper right in this composited series of exposures made early Sunday morning near the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Set up about two miles from Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the photographer also captured the four minute long trail of a Delta IV Heavy rocket carrying the Parker Solar Probe into the dark morning sky. Perseid meteors aren't slow. The grains of dust from periodic comet Swift-Tuttle vaporize as they plow through Earth's upper atmosphere at about 60 kilometers per second (133,000 mph). On its way to seven gravity-assist flybys of Venus over its seven year mission, the Parker Solar Probe's closest approach to the Sun will steadily decrease, finally reaching a distance of 6.1 million kilometers (3.8 million miles). That's about 1/8 the distance between Mercury and the Sun, and within the solar corona, the Sun's tenuous outer atmosphere. By then it will be traveling roughly 190 kilometers per second (430,000 mph) with respect to the Sun, a record for fastest spacecraft from planet Earth.   Gallery: Perseid meteor shower 2018",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1808/parkerlaunchperseids.apodDemeter.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Parker vs Perseid",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1808/parkerlaunchperseids.apodDemeter1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Antonio Tartarini",
    "date": "2022-04-01",
    "explanation": "The natural filter of a hazy atmosphere offered this recognizable architecture and sunset telephoto view on March 27. Dark against the solar disk, large sunspots in solar active regions 2975 and 2976 are wedged between the Duomo of Pisa and its famous Leaning Tower. Only one day later, Sun-staring spacecraft watched active region 2975 unleash a frenzy of solar flares along with two coronal mass ejections. The largest impacted the magnetosphere on March 31 triggering a geomagnetic storm and aurorae in high-latitude night skies. On March 30, active region 2975 erupted again with a powerful X-class solar flare that caused a temporary radio blackout on planet Earth.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2204/sunspotsleaningtowerofpisa.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Leaning Tower, Active Sun",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2204/sunspotsleaningtowerofpisa1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ignacio Rico Gualda",
    "date": "2008-10-28",
    "explanation": "The North America Nebula in the sky can do what most  North Americans on Earth cannot -- form stars.  Specifically, in analogy to the Earth-confined continent, the bright part that appears as Central America and Mexico is actually a hot bed of gas, dust, and newly formed stars known as the Cygnus Wall.  This beautiful skyscape shows the star forming wall lit and eroded by bright young stars, and partly hidden by the dark dust they have created.  The North America Nebula (NGC 7000) spans about 50 light years and lies about 1,500 light years away toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus).",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0810/northamerica_gualda_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The North America Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0810/northamerica_gualda.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Peter Michaud",
    "date": "2005-12-20",
    "explanation": "Is there a road to the stars?  Possibly there are many, but the physical road pictured above leads up to the top of a dormant volcano that is a premier spot on planet Earth for observing stars and astronomical phenomena.  At the top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea are some of the largest optical telescopes on Earth, including the Keck telescopes, Gemini, Subaru, CFHT, and the IRTF.  Together, these 10-meter eyes have made many universe-redefining discoveries, including detailing that most of the universe is made not of familiar matter but of mysterious dark matter and dark energy.  The above picture was compiled from over 150 one-minute exposures from a digital camera.  During that time, the rotation of the Earth made the stars far in the distance appear to have long star trails.  The foreground landscape was illuminated by the Moon.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0512/startrails_gemini_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Star Trails Above Mauna Kea",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0512/startrails_gemini.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1996-09-07",
    "explanation": "\r What did the \r universe look like two billion years after the \r Big Bang? According to \r this computer model, the universe was filled with irregular looking objects like the ones shown above.  The simulation then predicts that these blobs of stars and gas collide to form galaxies more similar to the ones we see today. In fact, this simulation bears much resemblance to \r recent pictures of distant galaxies taken by the \r Hubble Space Telescope. \r Galaxy formation is a complex phenomena which only now is becoming understood. Did most galaxies form 5 billion years ago - or 10 billion? Did galaxies fragment from larger sheets of matter, or are they conglomerations of many smaller clumps? Simulations like this one are helping to determine the answer.\r \r",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/twoBY_sp.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Two Billion Years After the Big Bang",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/twoBY_sp_big.gif"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Antonio\nFinazzi",
    "date": "2020-04-11",
    "explanation": "Shared around world in early April skies Venus, our brilliant evening star, wandered across the face of the lovely Pleiades star cluster. This timelapse image follows the path of the inner planet during the beautiful conjunction showing its daily approach to the stars of the Seven Sisters. From a composite of tracked exposures made with a telephoto lens, the field of view is also appropriate for binocular equipped skygazers. While the star cluster and planet were easily seen with the naked-eye, the spiky appearance of our sister planet in the picture is the result of a diffraction pattern produced by the camera's lens. All images were taken from a home garden in Chiuduno, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy, fortunate in good weather and clear spring nights.   Notable APOD Submissions: Gallery of Venus passing in front of the Pleiades",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2004/TimelapseVenusPleiadesFinazzi.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Venus and the Pleiades in April",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2004/TimelapseVenusPleiadesFinazzi800.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2018-06-11",
    "explanation": "Rising through a billowing cloud of smoke, a long time ago from a planet very very close by, this Delta II rocket left Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's launch pad 17-B at 12:05 pm EDT on June 11, 2008. Snug in the payload section was GLAST, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope. GLAST's detector technology was developed for use in terrestrial particle accelerators. So from orbit, GLAST can detect gamma-rays from extreme environments above the Earth and across the distant Universe, including supermassive black holes at the centers of distant active galaxies, and the sources of powerful gamma-ray bursts. Those formidable cosmic accelerators achieve energies not attainable in earthbound laboratories. Now known as the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, on the 10 year anniversary of its launch, let the Fermi Science Playoffs begin.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1806/GlastLaunch2018Jan11.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "At Last GLAST",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1806/GlastLaunch2018Jan11_912x1252.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2001-12-16",
    "explanation": "One of the most identifiable nebulae in the sky, the Horsehead Nebula in Orion, is part of a large, dark, molecular cloud.  Also known as Barnard 33, the unusual shape was first discovered on a photographic plate in the late 1800s.  The red glow originates from hydrogen gas predominantly behind the nebula, ionized by the nearby bright star Sigma Orionis.  The darkness of the Horsehead is caused mostly by thick dust, although the lower part of the Horsehead's neck casts a shadow to the left.  Streams of gas leaving the nebula are funneled by a strong magnetic field.  Bright spots in the Horsehead Nebula's base are young stars just in the process of forming.  Light takes about 1500 years to reach us from the Horsehead Nebula.   The above image was taken with the 0.9-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0112/horsehead_noao_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Horsehead Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0112/horsehead_noao.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2009-12-31",
    "explanation": "Dust makes this cosmic eye look red. The eerie Spitzer Space Telescope image shows infrared radiation from the well-studied Helix Nebula (NGC 7293) a mere 700 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius. The two light-year diameter shroud of dust and gas around a central white dwarf has long been considered an excellent example of a planetary nebula, representing the final stages in the evolution of a sun-like star. But the Spitzer data show the nebula's central star itself is immersed in a surprisingly bright infrared glow. Models suggest the glow is produced by a dust debris disk. Even though the nebular material was ejected from the star many thousands of years ago, the close-in dust could be generated by collisions in a reservoir of objects analogous to our own solar system's Kuiper Belt or cometary Oort cloud. Formed in the distant planetary system, the comet-like bodies would have otherwise survived even the dramatic late stages of the star's evolution.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091231.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0912/helix_spitzer_2048.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Dust and the Helix Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0912/helix_spitzer_720.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1998-10-07",
    "explanation": "The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) instrument onboard the orbiting SeaStar spacecraft can map subtle differences in Earth's ocean color. These North (left) and South Pole projections are based on SeaWiFS measurements made between September 1997 and July 1998. The \"color\" strongly depends on how sunlight is reflected by free-floating phytoplankton - photosynthesizing organisms which contain chlorophyll. Chlorophyll absorbs blue and red light and reflects green. Since the tiny phytoplankton are tremendously important, forming the beginning of the food chain for sea life, SeaWiFS color maps can help track the activity of ocean planet Earth's biosphere.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9810/north1_seawifs_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Ocean Planet Pole To Pole",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9810/north1_seawifs.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Russell Croman",
    "date": "2010-11-13",
    "explanation": "Big beautiful spiral galaxy M66 lies a mere 35 million light-years away. About 100 thousand light-years across, the gorgeous island universe is well known to astronomers as a member of the Leo Triplet of galaxies. In M66, pronounced dust lanes and young, blue star clusters sweep along spiral arms dotted with the tell-tale glow of pink star forming regions. This colorful and deep view also reveals faint extensions beyond the brighter galactic disk. Of course, the bright, spiky stars lie in the foreground, within our own Milky Way Galaxy, but many, small, distant background galaxies can be seen in the cosmic snapshot. Gravitational interactions with its neighboring galaxies have likely influenced the shape of spiral galaxy M66.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1011/m66_croman_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Spiral Galaxy M66",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1011/m66_croman_900c1.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2010-01-19",
    "explanation": "They might look like trees on Mars, but they're not. Groups of dark brown streaks have been photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on melting pinkish sand dunes covered with light frost. The above image was taken in 2008 April near the North Pole of Mars. At that time, dark sand on the interior of Martian sand dunes became more and more visible as the spring Sun melted the lighter carbon dioxide ice.  When occurring near the top of a dune, dark sand may cascade down the dune leaving dark surface streaks -- streaks that might appear at first to be trees standing in front of the lighter regions, but cast no shadows. Objects about 25 centimeters across are resolved on this image spanning about one kilometer. Close ups of some parts of this image show billowing plumes indicating that the sand slides were occurring even when the image was being taken.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100119.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1001/almosttrees_mro_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Dark Sand Cascades on Mars",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1001/almosttrees_mro.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ken Crawford",
    "date": "2008-12-10",
    "explanation": "Look through the cosmic cloud cataloged as NGC 281 and it's almost easy to miss stars of open cluster IC 1590. But, formed within the nebula, that cluster's young, massive stars ultimately power the pervasive nebular glow. The eye-catching shapes looming in this colorful portrait of NGC 281 are sculpted columns and dense dust globules seen in silhouette, eroded by intense, energetic winds and radiation from the hot cluster stars. If they survive long enough, the dusty structures could also be sites of future star formation. Sometimes called the Pacman Nebula because of its overall shape in wider-field views, NGC 281 is about 10,000 light-years away in the constellation Cassiopeia. This composite image was made through narrow-band filters and shows emission from the nebula's hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen atoms in green, red, and blue hues. It spans over 80 light-years at the estimated distance of NGC 281.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081210.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0812/NGC281_crawford.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Portrait of NGC 281",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0812/NGC281_crawford800.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ken Crawford",
    "date": "2009-01-08",
    "explanation": "This shock wave plows through space at over 500,000 kilometers per hour. Moving right to left in the beautifully detailed color composite, the thin, braided filaments are actually long ripples in a sheet of glowing gas seen almost edge on. Cataloged as NGC 2736, its narrow appearance suggests its popular name, the Pencil Nebula. About 5 light-years long and a mere 800 light-years away, the Pencil Nebula is only a small part of the Vela supernova remnant. The Vela remnant itself is around 100 light-years in diameter, the expanding debris cloud of a star that was seen to explode about 11,000 years ago. Initially, the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometers per hour but has slowed considerably, sweeping up surrounding interstellar gas.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090108.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/NGC2736_RS_crawford.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "NGC 2736: The Pencil Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/NGC2736_RS_crawford_c600.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Yuri Beletsky",
    "date": "2011-08-11",
    "explanation": "Recorded last week, this dawn portrait of snowy mountain and starry sky captures a very rare scenario. The view does feature a pristine sky above the 2,600 meter high mountain Cerro Paranal, but clear skies over Paranal are not at all unusual. That's one reason the mountain is home to the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope. Considering the number of satellites now in orbit, the near sunrise streak of a satellite glinting at the upper left isn't rare either. And the long, bright trail of a meteor can often be spotted this time of year too. The one at the far right is associated with the annual Perseid meteor shower whose peak is expected tomorrow (Friday, August 12). In fact, the rarest aspect of the picture is just the snow. Cerro Paranal rises above South America's Atacama desert, known as the driest place on planet Earth.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1108/ParanalMeteor_beletsky.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Snows of Paranal",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1108/ParanalMeteor_beletsky.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ken Crawford",
    "date": "2012-10-25",
    "explanation": "Braided, serpentine filaments of glowing gas suggest this nebula's popular name, The Medusa Nebula. Also known as Abell 21, this Medusa is an old planetary nebula some 1,500 light-years away in the constellation Gemini. Like its mythological namesake, the nebula is associated with a dramatic transformation. The planetary nebula phase represents a final stage in the evolution of low mass stars like the sun, as they transform themselves from red giants to hot white dwarf stars and in the process shrug off their outer layers. Ultraviolet radiation from the hot star powers the nebular glow. The Medusa's transforming star is near the center of the overall bright crescent shape. In this deep telescopic view, fainter filaments clearly extend below and to the left of the bright crescent region. The Medusa Nebula is estimated to be over 4 light-years across.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1210/MedusaCrawford_NC.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Medusa Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1210/MedusaCrawford_NC900.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Wally Pacholka",
    "date": "2012-08-01",
    "explanation": "You don't have to be at Monument Valley to see the Milky Way arch across the sky like this -- but it helps. Only at Monument Valley USA would you see a picturesque foreground that includes these iconic rock peaks called buttes. Buttes are composed of hard rock left behind after water has eroded away the surrounding soft rock.  In the above image taken about two months ago, the closest butte on the left and the butte to its right are known as the Mittens, while Merrick Butte can be seen just further to the right. High overhead stretches a band of diffuse light that is the central disk of our spiral Milky Way Galaxy. The band of the Milky Way can be spotted by almost anyone on almost any clear night when far enough from a city and surrounding bright lights.   APOD in Spanish: On the web and through Facebook",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1208/monumentvalley_pacholka_1387.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Milky Way Over Monument Valley",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1208/monumentvalley_pacholka_1387c.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1996-05-17",
    "explanation": "A rare coincidence was recently captured by the orbiting SOHO spacecraft. During the closest approach to the Sun of Comet Hyakutake on May 1, SOHO photographed the comet.  By accident -- during the time this photograph was being taken -- a solar flare was being ejected from the Sun. Therefore, at the top of this false-color picture, Comet Hyakutake is visible, while emission to the left of the Sun is a solar flare. The Sun, at the center of the picture, was blocked by an artificial occulter in the LASCO telescope, allowing objects much dimmer than the Sun to be observed. SOHO was launched in December of 1995 and contains many instruments which study the Sun.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/hyakutake_flare_soho_big.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Comet Hyakutake and a Solar Flare",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/hyakutake_flare_soho.gif"
  },
  {
    "date": "2003-08-21",
    "explanation": "About 5,000 light-years away, toward the constellation Sagittarius and the center of our galaxy, lies the bright star forming region cataloged as M17. In visible light, M17's bowed and hollowed-out appearance has resulted in many popular names like the Horseshoe, Swan, Omega, and Lobster nebula. But what has sculpted this glowing gas cloud? This Chandra Observatory image of x-rays from M17 provides a clue. Many massive young stars are responsible for the pink central region of the false-color x-ray picture, their colliding stellar winds producing the multimillion degree gas cloud which extends ten or so light-years to the left. When compared with visible light images, this x-ray hot cloud is partly surrounded by the nebula's cooler gas. In fact, having carved out a central cavity the hot gas seems to be flowing out of the horseshoe shape like champagne from an uncorked bottle ... suggesting yet another name for star forming region M17.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0308/m17_cxc_full.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "X-Rays from M17",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0308/m17_cxc_c1.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Justin Quinnell",
    "date": "2009-01-15",
    "explanation": "If every picture tells a story, this one might make a novel. The six month long exposure compresses the time from December 17, 2007 to June 21, 2008 into a single point of view. Dubbed a solargraph, the remarkable image was recorded with a simple pinhole camera made from a drink can lined with a piece of photographic paper. The Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon River Gorge in Bristol, UK emerges from the foreground, but rising and setting each day the Sun arcs overhead, tracing a glowing path through the sky. Cloud cover causes dark gaps in the daily Sun trails. In December, the Sun trails begin lower down and are short, corresponding to a time near the northern hemisphere's winter solstice date. They grow longer and climb higher in the sky as the June 21st summer solstice approaches.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090115.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/Bridgeview_corr_smlQuinnell.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Suspension Bridge Solargraph",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0901/Bridgeview_corr_smlQuinnell_800.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Emilio Rivero Padilla",
    "date": "2019-05-21",
    "explanation": "These three bright nebulae are often featured on telescopic tours of the constellation Sagittarius and the crowded starfields of the central Milky Way. In fact, 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier cataloged two of them; M8, the large nebula just left of center, and colorful M20 on the top left. The third emission region includes NGC 6559 and can be found to the right of M8. All three are stellar nurseries about five thousand light-years or so distant. Over a hundred light-years across, the expansive M8 is also known as the Lagoon Nebula. M20's popular moniker is the Trifid. Glowing hydrogen gas creates the dominant red color of the emission nebulae. In striking contrast, blue hues in the Trifid are due to dust reflected starlight. Recently formed bright blue stars are visible nearby.  The colorful composite skyscape was recorded in 2018 in Teide National Park in the Canary Islands, Spain.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1905/M8M20_Padilla_1534.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Deep Field: Nebulae of Sagittarius",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1905/M8M20_Padilla_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2015-09-18",
    "explanation": "This shadowy landscape of majestic mountains and icy plains stretches toward the horizon of a small, distant world. It was captured from a range of about 18,000 kilometers when New Horizons looked back toward Pluto, 15 minutes after the spacecraft's closest approach on July 14. The dramatic, low-angle, near-twilight scene follows rugged mountains still popularly known as Norgay Montes from foreground left, and Hillary Montes along the horizon, giving way to smooth Sputnik Planum at right. Layers of Pluto's tenuous atmosphere are also revealed in the backlit view. With a strangely familiar appearance, the frigid terrain likely includes ices of nitrogen and carbon monoxide with water-ice mountains rising up to 3,500 meters (11,000 feet). That's comparable in height to the majestic mountains of planet Earth. This Plutonian landscape is 380 kilometers (230 miles) across.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1509/Pluto-Mountains-Plains9-17-15.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Plutonian Landscape",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1509/nh-apluto-mountains-plains-9-17-15.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "CARA Project",
    "date": "2010-12-02",
    "explanation": "rly in November, small but active Comet Hartley 2 (103/P Hartley) became the fifth comet imaged close-up by a spacecraft from planet Earth. Continuing its own tour of the solar system with a 6 year orbital period, Hartley 2 is now appearing in the nautical constellation Puppis. Still a target for binoculars or small telescopes from dark sky locations, the comet is captured in this composite image from November 27, sharing the rich 2.5 degree wide field of view with some star clusters well known to earthbound skygazers. Below and right of the comet's alluring green coma lies bright M47, a young open star cluster some 80 milion years old, about 1,600 light-years away. Below and left open cluster M46 is older, around 300 million years of age, and 5,400 light-years distant. Hartley 2's short, faint tail even extends up and right toward another fainter star cluster in the scene, NGC 2423. On November 27, Comet Hartley 2 was about 2.25 light-minutes from Earth. Sweeping toward the bottom of this field, by November 28 the comet's path had carried it between M46 and M47.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1012/103P_101127ligustri.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Hartley 2 Star Cluster Tour",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1012/103P_101127ligustri900c.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2000-09-12",
    "explanation": "If you could have hovered above the Pathfinder mission to Mars in 1997, this is what you might have seen.  Directly below you is the control tower of Sagan Memorial Station.  Three dark solar arrays extend out to collect valuable energy, surrounded by light-colored deflated airbags that protected Pathfinder's instruments from directly colliding with the rocky Martian surface.  The left solar panel has ramps down which Pathfinder's rolling robot Sojourner started its adventure to nearby rocks.  Sojourner itself is visible inspecting a rock nicknamed Yogi at 11 o'clock.   Rocks cover the Martian surface, with Twin Peaks visible on the horizon at 9 0'clock.  The distant sky is mostly orange.  This image is a recently released digital combination of panoramic pictures taken by Pathfinder on Mars and a picture of a Lander scale model back on Earth.  The Mars Pathfinder Mission was able to collect data for three months, sending back information that has indicated a wet distant past for Mars.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0009/marsdonut_mpf_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Slightly Above Mars Pathfinder",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0009/marsdonut_mpf.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2005-09-05",
    "explanation": "Stars come in bunches.  Of the over 200 globular star clusters that orbit the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, 47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster, behind Omega Centauri.  Known to some affectionately as 47 Tuc or NGC 104, it is only visible from Earth's Southern Hemisphere.  It was therefore a fitting target for first light observations of the gigantic new 10-meter diameter Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) this past week.  The resulting image is shown above.  Light takes about 20,000 years to reach us from 47 Tuc which can be seen near the Small Magellanic Cloud toward the constellation of Tucana.  The dynamics of stars near the center of 47 Tuc are not well understood, particularly why there are so few binary systems there.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0509/47tuc_salt_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae from SALT",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0509/47tuc_salt.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2009-05-27",
    "explanation": "Why are many large craters on Mercury relatively smooth inside? Recent images from the robotic MESSENGER spacecraft that flew by Mercury last October show previously uncharted regions of Mercury that have large craters with an internal smoothness similar to the maria on Earth's own Moon. Therefore, like our Moon's maria, these craters on Mercury are thought to have been flooded by lava floes that are old but not as old as the surrounding more highly cratered surface. The above image mosaic of the western limb of Mercury was created by MESSENGER as it approached the Solar System's innermost planet last October.  Old and heavily textured terrain runs across much of the image bottom, while across the middle left lies comparatively smooth impact basins where small craters may appear similar at first to protruding hills.  MESSENGER will buzz past Mercury again later this year before entering orbit in 2011.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090527.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0905/mercurywest_messenger_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Volcanic Terrain on Mercury",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0905/mercurywest_messenger.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2015-04-26",
    "explanation": "Why isn't this ant a big sphere?  Planetary nebula Mz3 is being cast off by a star similar to our Sun that is, surely, round.  Why then would the gas that is streaming away create an ant-shaped nebula that is distinctly not round?  Clues might include the high 1000-kilometer per second speed of the expelled gas, the light-year long length of the structure, and the magnetism of the star  visible above at the nebula's center.  One possible answer is that Mz3 is hiding a second, dimmer star that orbits close in to the bright star.  A competing hypothesis holds that the central star's own spin and magnetic field are channeling the gas.  Since the central star appears to be so similar to our own Sun, astronomers hope that increased understanding of the history of this giant space ant can provide useful insight into the likely future of our own Sun and Earth.   Celebration: 25 Years of the Hubble Space Telescope",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1504/ant_hubble_1072.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1504/ant_hubble_1072.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2022-04-12",
    "explanation": "Massive stars, abrasive winds, mountains of dust, and energetic light sculpt one of the largest and most picturesque regions of star formation in the Local Group of Galaxies.  Known as N11, the region is visible on the upper right of many images of its home galaxy, the Milky Way neighbor known as the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).  The featured image was taken for scientific purposes by the Hubble Space Telescope and reprocessed for artistry.  Although the section imaged above is known as NGC 1763, the entire N11 emission nebula is second in LMC size only to the Tarantula Nebula.  Compact globules of dark dust housing emerging young stars are also visible around the image.  A recent study of variable stars in the LMC with Hubble has helped to recalibrate the distance scale of the  observable universe, but resulted in a slightly different scale than found using the pervasive cosmic microwave background.   Astrophysicists: Browse 2,700+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2204/N11_HubbleLake_1600.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "N11: Star Clouds of the LMC",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2204/N11_HubbleLake_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Rafael Schmall",
    "date": "2012-02-11",
    "explanation": "Lighting the night last Tuesday, February's Full Moon is sometimes called the Snow Moon. But the Moon was not quite full in this mosaicked skyscape recorded on February 2 south of Budapest, Hungary, and there was no snow either. Still, thin clouds of ice crystals hung in the cold, wintry sky creating this gorgeous lunar halo. Refraction of moonlight by the six-sided crystals produce the slightly colored halo with its characteristic radius of 22 degrees. Just below the Moon is bright star Aldebaran. Also well within the halo at the right is the Pleiades star cluster. At the lower left, near the halo's edge lie the stars of Orion with bright Capella, alpha star of the constellation Auriga, just beyond the halo near the top of the frame.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1202/rafael_schmall_lunar_halo_2012_02_02_2.JPG",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A February Moon's Halo",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1202/rafael_schmall_lunar_halo_2012_02_02_2_600c.JPG"
  },
  {
    "date": "2006-11-28",
    "explanation": "Why is this galaxy so discombobulated?  Usually, galaxies this topsy-turvy result from a recent collision with a neighboring galaxy. Spiral galaxy NGC 1313, however, appears to be alone.  Brightly lit with new and blue massive stars, star formation appears so rampant in NGC 1313 that it has been labeled a starburst galaxy.  Strange features of NGC 1313 include that its spiral arms are lopsided and its rotational axis is not at the center of the nuclear bar.  Pictured above, NGC 1313 spans about 50,000 light years and lies only about 15 million light years away toward the constellation of Reticulum. Continued numerical modeling of galaxies like NGC 1313 might shed some light on its unusual nature.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/topsyturvy_eso_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Unusual Starburst Galaxy  NGC 1313 \n\n",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0611/topsyturvy_eso.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "StarryScapes",
    "date": "2004-07-15",
    "explanation": "A cosmic dust cloud sprawls across a rich field of stars in this gorgeous wide field telescopic vista looking toward Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. Probably less than 500 light-years away and effectively blocking light from more distant, background stars in the Milky Way, the densest part of the dust cloud is about 8 light-years long. At its tip (lower left) is a series of lovely blue nebulae cataloged as NGC 6726, 6727, 6729, and IC 4812. Their characteristic blue color is produced as light from hot stars is reflected by the cosmic dust. The tiny but intriguing yellowish arc visible near the blue nebulae marks young variable star R Coronae Australis. Magnificent globular star cluster NGC 6723 is seen here below and left of the nebulae. While NGC 6723 appears to be just outside Corona Australis in the constellation Sagittarius, it actually lies nearly 30,000 light-years away, far beyond the Corona Australis dust cloud.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0407/ngc6726_wide_tanfull.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Stars and Dust in Corona Australis",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0407/ngc6726_wide_tanc1.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Joseph Brimacombe",
    "date": "2008-06-28",
    "explanation": "A weekend trip for astrophotography in central Australia can result in gorgeous skyscapes. In this example recorded in March of 2006, the center of our Milky Way Galaxy rises over planet Earth's horizon and the large sandstone formation called Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock. After setting up two cameras to automatically image this celestial scene in a series of exposures, one through a wide-angle and the other through a telephoto lens, photographer Joseph Brimacombe briefly turned his back to set up other equipment. To his surprise, the ground around him suddenly lit up with the brilliant flash of a fireball meteor. To his delight, both cameras captured the bright meteor streak. Highlighted in the telephoto view (inset), the fireball trail shines through cloud banks, just left of Ayers Rock.   digg_url = 'http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080628.html'; digg_skin = 'compact';",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/FireballAyersRock_brimacombe.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Fireball at Ayers Rock",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0806/FireballAyersRock_brimacombe_c800.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1996-05-14",
    "explanation": "In this century, the discovery that the Universe is expanding has produced a revolution in human thought about the Cosmos. American astronomer Edwin Hubble played a major role in this profound discovery, coining the \"Hubble constant\". This single number describes the rate of the cosmic expansion, relating the apparent recession velocities of external galaxies to their distance. Two groups of astronomers trying to measure this fundamental constant using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are continuing to report conflicting results. One group, led by astronomer Allan Sandage, measures distances to galaxies using pulsating Cepheid variable stars and supernovae observed in galaxies like the Virgo Cluster spiral galaxy, NGC4639, shown above. This galaxy is the most distant one to which Cepheid-based determinations have been made and was also the site of a well-studied 1990 supernova. Their results favor a relatively small Hubble constant (slow expansion rate) of about 55 kilometers per second per megaparsec which means that galaxies one megaparsec (3 million lightyears) distant appear to recede from us at a speed of 55 kilometers per second. A substantially faster expansion rate (larger Hubble constant) is being reported by astronomer Wendy Freedman and collaborators, also based on HST data. The value of Hubble's constant was recently the subject of a popular public debate titled \"The Scale of the Universe 1996: The Value of Hubble's Constant\".",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/ngc4639_hst_big.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Hubble's Constant and The Expanding Universe (II)",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/ngc4639_hst.gif"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Robert Gendler",
    "date": "2021-08-18",
    "explanation": "The Ring Nebula (M57), is more complicated than it appears through a small telescope.  The easily visible central ring is about one light-year across, but this remarkably deep exposure - a collaborative effort combining data from three different large telescopes - explores the looping filaments of glowing gas extending much farther from the nebula's central star. This composite image includes red light emitted by hydrogen as well as visible and infrared light. The Ring Nebula is an elongated planetary nebula, a type of nebula created when a Sun-like star evolves to throw off its outer atmosphere to become a white dwarf star.  The Ring Nebula is about 2,500 light-years away toward the musical constellation Lyra.   Amateur Astronomers: Please take the Night Sky Network's Survey",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2108/M57Ring_HubbleGendler_3000.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Rings Around the Ring Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2108/M57Ring_HubbleGendler_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2006-08-27",
    "explanation": "Big, beautiful, barred spiral galaxy NGC 1300 lies some 70 million light-years away on the banks of the constellation Eridanus. This Hubble Space Telescope composite view of the gorgeous island universe is one of the largest Hubble images ever made of a complete galaxy. NGC 1300 spans over 100,000 light-years and the Hubble image reveals striking details of the galaxy's dominant central bar and majestic spiral arms. In fact, on close inspection the nucleus of this classic barred spiral itself shows a remarkable region of spiral structure about 3,000 light-years across. Unlike other spiral galaxies, including our own Milky Way, NGC 1300 is not presently known to have a massive central black hole.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0608/ngc1300_hst_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0608/ngc1300_hst.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Christoph Kaltseis",
    "date": "2017-03-12",
    "explanation": "Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium. Tightly gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, mostly from the brightest star Theta-1 Orionis C powers the complex star forming region's entire visible glow. About three million years old, the Orion Nebula Cluster was even more compact in its younger years and a dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun. The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars. The Orion Nebula's distance of some 1,500 light-years would make it the closest known black hole to planet Earth.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1703/M42kaltseis_Cedic.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "At the Heart of Orion",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1703/M42kaltseis_Cedic1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Philip Perkins",
    "date": "2004-05-25",
    "explanation": "Despite clouds and rain showers astronomer Phillip Perkins managed to spot a reddened, eclipsed Moon between the stones of this well known monument to the Sun during May's total lunar eclipse, from Stonehenge, England. When he recorded this dramatic picture, the rising Moon was only about 5 degrees above the horizon, but conveniently located through a gap in the circle of ancient stones. Although at first glance there appears to be an eerie, luminous pool of water in the foreground, Perkins notes that his daughter produced the artistic lighting effect. She illuminated a fallen stone and surrounding grass with a flashgun from her hiding place behind the large sarsen stone to the right of center. As the picture looks toward the southeast, the stone just below the Moon is one of the inner bluestones rather than the famous Heel Stone, which marks the northeast direction of the summer solstice sunrise.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0405/LunarEclipseStonehenge_perkins_1.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Moon Between the Stones",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0405/LunarEclipseStonehenge_perkins_sm.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2010-04-05",
    "explanation": "What does Saturn's shepherd moon Prometheus really look like? The raw images from the robotic Cassini spacecraft's January flyby of the small moon showed tantalizing clues on grainy images, but now that the Cassini team has digitally remastered these images, many more details have come out. Pictured above, Prometheus more clearly shows its oblong shape as well as numerous craters over its 100-kilometer length. In the above image, the bright part of Prometheus is lit directly by the Sun, while much of the dark part is still discernible through sunlight first reflected off of Saturn. These new surface details, together with the moon's high reflectivity, can now help humanity better understand the history of Prometheus and Saturn's rings. Today, Cassini has a planned targeted flyby of Saturn's largest moon Titan, while on Wednesday, Cassini is scheduled to swoop to within 600 kilometers of Dione.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1004/prometheus2_cassini_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Prometheus Remastered",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1004/prometheus2_cassini.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2020-02-19",
    "explanation": "Why does this galaxy spin so fast?  To start, even identifying which type of galaxy UGC 12591 is difficult -- featured on the lower left, it has dark dust lanes like a spiral galaxy but a large diffuse bulge of stars like a lenticular. Surprisingly observations show that UGC 12591 spins at about 480 km/sec, almost twice as fast as our Milky Way, and the fastest rotation rate yet measured.  The mass needed to hold together a galaxy spinning this fast is several times the mass of our Milky Way Galaxy. Progenitor scenarios for UGC 12591 include slow growth by accreting ambient matter, or rapid growth through a recent galaxy collision or collisions -- future observations may tell.  The light we see today from UGC 12591 left about 400 million years ago, when trees were first developing on Earth.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2002/UGC12951_HubbleShatz_2019.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "UGC 12591: The Fastest Rotating Galaxy Known",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2002/UGC12951_HubbleShatz_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2022-05-01",
    "explanation": "What does a black hole look like? To find out, radio telescopes from around the Earth coordinated observations of black holes with the largest known event horizons on the sky.  Alone, black holes are just black, but these monster attractors are known to be surrounded by glowing gas.  This first image resolves the area around the black hole at the center of galaxy M87 on a scale below that expected for its event horizon.  Pictured, the dark central region is not the event horizon, but rather the black hole's shadow -- the central region of emitting gas darkened by the central black hole's gravity. The size and shape of the shadow is determined by bright gas near the event horizon, by strong gravitational lensing deflections, and by the black hole's spin.  In resolving this black hole's shadow, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) bolstered evidence that Einstein's gravity works even in extreme regions, and gave clear evidence that M87 has a central spinning black hole of about 6 billion solar masses.  Since releasing this featured image in 2019, the EHT has expanded to include more telescopes, observe more black holes, track polarized light,and is working to observe the immediately vicinity of the black hole in the center of our Milky Way Galaxy.    This week is: Black Hole Week  New EHT Results to be Announced: Next Thursday",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2205/M87bh_EHT_2629.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "First Horizon-Scale Image of a Black Hole",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2205/M87bh_EHT_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1999-06-15",
    "explanation": "Our Sun is in a continual state of oscillation.  Large patches of the Sun vibrate in and out, back and forth, even as the Sun rotates.  One mode of Solar oscillation is depicted graphically above, with blue indicating outward motion, and red indicating inward motion.  Although sensitive optical solar observatories can only directly detect surface motions, they give information about vibrations occurring much deeper in the Sun.  In helioseismology, these oscillations are being analyzed and are revealing unprecedented information about the density, temperature, motion, and chemical composition of the entire Sun.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9906/sunmodes2_gong.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Sun Oscillates",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9906/sunmodes2_gong_big.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Mads\nFredslund Andersen",
    "date": "2016-05-05",
    "explanation": "Near first quarter, the Moon in March lights this snowy, rugged landscape, a view across the top of Tenerife toward La Palma in the Canary Islands Spanish archipelago. The large Teide volcano, the highest point in Spain, looms over the horizon. Shining above are familiar bright stars of Orion, the Hunter. Adding to the dreamlike scene is the 1 meter diameter prototype telescope of the global network project called the Stellar Observations Network Group or SONG. The SONG's fully robotic observatory was captured during the 30 second exposure while the observatory dome, with slit open, was rotated across the field of view.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1605/IMG_5214_SONGandersen2048.JPG",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The SONG and the Hunter",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1605/IMG_5214_SONGandersen1024.JPG"
  },
  {
    "date": "2001-12-02",
    "explanation": "Three years ago results were first presented indicating that most of the energy in our universe is not in stars or galaxies but is tied to space itself.  In the language of cosmologists, a large cosmological constant is directly implied by new distant supernovae observations.  Suggestions of a cosmological constant (lambda) are not new -- they have existed since the advent of modern relativistic cosmology.  Such claims are not usually popular with astronomers, though, because lambda is so unlike known universe components, because lambda's value appears limited by other observations, and because less-strange cosmologies without lambda have previously done well in explaining the data.  What is noteworthy here is the seemingly direct and reliable method of the observations and the good reputations of the scientists conducting the investigations.  Over the past three years, two independent teams of astronomers have continued to accumulate data that appears to confirm the unsettling result.  The above picture of a supernova that occurred in 1994 on the outskirts of a spiral galaxy was taken by one of these collaborations.  Still, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and so cosmologists the world over continue to await more data and confirmation by independent methods.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0112/sn94d_hiz_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Rumors of a Strange Universe",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0112/sn94d_hiz.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1999-06-14",
    "explanation": "In a search for massive stars, the Hubble Space Telescope has peered into yet another spectacular region of star formation.  This nebula, known as N159, spans over 150 light-years and is located in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy, about 170,000 light years distant. Visible in the above picture are bright newborn stars, dark filaments of dust, and red-glowing hydrogen gas.  The aptly named Papillon Nebula (French for butterfly), is the unusual central compact cloud, highlighted in the inset.  Reasons for the bipolar shape of the Papillon Nebula are currently unknown, but might indicate the presence of unseen high-mass stars and a thick gaseous disk.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9906/papillon_hst_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "N159 and the Papillon Nebula",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9906/papillon_hst.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1997-11-12",
    "explanation": "Ni\u00f1o is a temporary global climate change resulting from unusually warm water in the central Pacific Ocean.  El Ni\u00f1o can cause unusual or severe weather for some locations over the next few months. Warm water is shown in white in the above false-color picture taken by the orbiting TOPEX/Poseidon satellite in late October.  The Pacific Ocean is color coded by sea surface height relative to normal ocean levels. The large white area represents a mass of warm water 30 times greater than all the Great Lakes, flowing toward the Americas. Although El Ni\u00f1os occur every decade or so, this year's is the first ever predicted. The cause and full effects of El Ni\u00f1os are still under study.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9711/elnino_topex_big.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "El Ni\u00f1o Earth",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9711/elnino_topex.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1998-12-13",
    "explanation": "How did the astronauts get back from the Moon? The Lunar Module that landed two astronauts on the Moon actually came apart. The top part containing the astronauts carried additional rocket fuel which allowed it to blast away, leaving the bottom part on the Moon forever. The top part would later meet up with the Command Module and its astronaut pilot, which were continually orbiting the Moon. All would then return to Earth together. The above picture was taken by a robot TV camera left on the Moon by the crew of Apollo 16.  The frame above captures the top part of the Lunar Module just at it was blasting off.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/apollo16_blastoff_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Blasting Off from the Moon",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/apollo16_blastoff.gif"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Gyorgy Soponyai",
    "date": "2018-11-09",
    "explanation": "Don't panic. This little planet projection looks confusing, but it's actually just a digitally warped and stitched, nadir centered mosaic of images that covers nearly 360x180 degrees. The images were taken on the night of October 31 from a 30 meter tall hill-top lookout tower near Tatabanya, Hungary, planet Earth. The laticed lookout tower construction was converted from a local mine elevator. Since planet Earth is rotating, the 126 frames of 75 second long exposures also show warped, concentric star trails with the north celestial pole at the left. Of course at this location the south celestial pole is just right of center but below the the little planet's horizon.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1811/prisonplanet_small.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Little Planet Lookout",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1811/prisonplanet_small1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2000-02-05",
    "explanation": "On December 23, 1998 the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft flew by asteroid 433 Eros.  The robotic spacecraft was intended to brake and orbit Eros, but an unexpected shutdown of its main engine caused this plan to be aborted. Now closing with the asteroid again, NEAR will make another attempt to enter Eros' orbit on February 14th ... Valentine's Day, of course! A successful encounter would make NEAR the first spacecraft ever to orbit an asteroid. This image sequence was taken as NEAR approached Eros in 1998.  The rotation of the asteroid is visible in the successive frames. While cruising through the solar system, NEAR has also been hunting for gamma-ray bursts as part of the operational Interplanetary Network.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0002/xeros_near_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "NEAR to Asteroid Eros",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0002/xeros_near.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2010-05-01",
    "explanation": "As far as pulsars go, PSR B1509-58 appears young. Light from the supernova explosion that gave birth to it would have first reached Earth some 1,700 years ago. The magnetized, 20 kilometer-diameter neutron star spins 7 times per second, a cosmic dynamo that powers a wind of charged particles. The energetic wind creates the surrounding nebula's X-ray glow in this tantalizing image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Low energy X-rays are in red, medium energies in green, and high energies in blue. The pulsar itself is in the bright central region. Remarkably, the nebula's tantalizing, complicated structure resembles a hand. PSR B1509-58 is about 17,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Circinus. At that distance the Chandra image spans 100 light-years.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1005/b1509_cxc.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Pulsar's Hand",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1005/b1509_cxc_c.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Chander DevgunSPACE",
    "date": "2011-12-14",
    "explanation": "Our Moon turned red last week.  The reason was that during December 10, a total lunar eclipse occurred.  The above digitally superimposed image mosaic captured the Moon many times during the eclipse, from before the Moon entered Earth's shadow until after the Moon exited.  The image sequence was recorded over a Shanti Stupa Peace Pagota near the center of New Delhi, India.  The red tint of the eclipsed Moon was created by sunlight first passing through the Earth's atmosphere, which preferentially scatters blue light (making the sky blue) but passes and refracts red light, before reflecting back off the Moon.  Differing amounts of clouds and volcanic dust in the Earth's atmosphere make each lunar eclipse appear differently.  The next total lunar eclipse will occur only in 2014.    Discovery + Outreach: Graduate student research position open for APOD",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1112/lunareclipse_devgun_1338.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "A Lunar Eclipse Over an Indian Peace Pagoda",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1112/lunareclipse_devgun_900.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Jeremy P. Gray",
    "date": "2014-09-17",
    "explanation": "It has been a good week for auroras. Earlier this month active sunspot region 2158 rotated into view and unleashed a series of flares and plasma ejections into the Solar System during its journey across the Sun's disk. In particular, a pair of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) impacted the Earth's magnetosphere toward the end of last week, creating the most intense geomagnetic storm so far this year.  Although power outages were feared by some, the most dramatic effects of these impacting plasma clouds were auroras seen as far south as Wisconsin, USA. In the featured image taken last Friday night, rays and sheets of multicolored auroras were captured over Acadia National Park, in Maine, USA.  Since another CME plasma cloud is currently approaching the Earth, tonight offers another good chance to see an impressive auroral display.   Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1409/aurora01_gray_1500.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Aurora over Maine",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1409/aurora01_gray_960.jpg"
  },
  {
    "copyright": "Ted Stryk",
    "date": "2011-01-30",
    "explanation": "Although the phase of this moon might appear familiar, the moon itself might not. In fact, this gibbous phase shows part of Jupiter's moon Europa. The robot spacecraft Galileo captured this image mosaic during its mission orbiting Jupiter from 1995 - 2003. Visible are plains of bright ice, cracks that run to the horizon, and dark patches that likely contain both ice and dirt. Raised terrain is particularly apparent near the terminator, where it casts shadows. Europa is nearly the same size as Earth's Moon, but much smoother, showing few highlands or large impact craters. Evidence and images from the Galileo spacecraft, indicated that liquid oceans might exist below the icy surface. To test speculation that these seas hold life, NASA and ESA have started preliminary development of the Europa Jupiter System Mission, a spacecraft proposed for launch around 2020 that would further explore Jupiter and in particular Europa.  If the surface ice is thin enough, a future mission might drop hydrobots to burrow into the oceans and search for life.   Browse: See the latest images submitted to APOD",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1101/europa_galileo_1200.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Gibbous Europa",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1101/europa_galileo_900.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1999-04-20",
    "explanation": "What created these huge explosion remnants? Speculation has been building recently that outbursts even more powerful than well-known supernovae might occur.  Dubbed hypernovae, these explosions might result from high-mass stars and liberate perhaps ten times more energy than conventional supernovae. A hypernova was originally postulated to explain the great amount of energy seemingly liberated in a gamma-ray burst.  A search for visible remnants of hypernovae has now yielded the above two candidates.  Nearby spiral galaxy M101, shown on the right, has two large expanding shells that might have originated from a hypernova. Remnant NGC 5471B on the upper left and MF83 below were identified by the unusually high amount of X-ray radiation they emit.  MF83 is also one of the largest expanding shells ever found.  Research continues into the possible nature and visibility of hypernovae and the gas shells they likely leave behind.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9904/hypernova_chu_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Candidates for a Hypernova",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9904/hypernova_chu.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1997-02-24",
    "explanation": "In yesterday's episode our hero, the Cartwheel galaxy, had survived a chance cosmic collision with a small intruder galaxy - triggering an expanding ring of star formation. Hot on the intruder's trail, a team of multiwavelength sleuths have compiled evidence tracking the reckless galaxy fleeing the scene. Presented for your consideration: a composite showing a visual image of the Cartwheel galaxy (at left) and smaller galaxies of the Cartwheel group, superposed with high resolution radio observations of neutral hydrogen (traced by the green contours). The neutral hydrogen trail suggestively leads to the culprit galaxy at the far right, presently about 250,000 light years distant from the Cartwheel!",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9702/cartwheel2_hst_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The Trail of the Intruder\r\nCredit:",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9702/cartwheel2_hst.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2006-05-16",
    "explanation": "The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest human-made object ever to orbit the Earth.   Last August, the station was visited and resupplied by space shuttle Discovery.   The ISS is currently operated by the Expedition 13 crew, consisting a Russian and an American astronaut.   After departing the ISS, the crew of Discovery captured this spectacular vista of the orbiting space city high above the Caspian Sea.   Visible components include modules, trusses, and expansive solar arrays that gather sunlight that is turned into needed electricity.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0605/iss2_sts114_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "The International Space Station from Above",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0605/iss2_sts114.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2006-03-13",
    "explanation": "Why is this plasma so hot?  Physicists aren't sure.  What is known for sure is that the Z Machine running at Sandia National Laboratories created a plasma that was unexpectedly hot.  The plasma reached a temperature in excess of two billion Kelvin, making it arguably the hottest human made thing ever in the history of the Earth and, for a brief time, hotter than the interiors of stars.   The Z Machine experiment, pictured above, purposely creates high temperatures by focusing 20 million amps of electricity into a small region further confined by a magnetic field.  Vertical wires give the Z Machine its name.  During the unexpected powerful contained explosion, the Z machine released about 80 times the world's entire electrical power usage for a brief fraction of a second.  Experiments with the Z Machine are helping to explain the physics of Solar flares, design more efficient nuclear fusion plants, test materials under extreme heat, and gather data for the computer modeling of nuclear explosions.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0603/zmachine_sandia_big.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Z Machine Sets Unexpected Earth Temperature Record",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0603/zmachine_sandia.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "2015-05-16",
    "explanation": "This close-up from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE camera shows weathered craters and windblown deposits in southern Acidalia Planitia. A striking shade of blue in standard HiRISE image colors, to the human eye the area would probably look grey or a little reddish. But human eyes have not gazed across this terrain, unless you count the eyes of NASA astronauts in the scifi novel The Martian by Andy Weir. The novel chronicles the adventures of Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded at the fictional Mars mission Ares 3 landing site corresponding to the coordinates of this cropped HiRISE frame. For scale Watney's 6-meter-diameter habitat at the site would be about 1/10th the diameter of the large crater. Of course, the Ares 3 landing coordinates are only about 800 kilometers north of the (real life) Carl Sagan Memorial Station, the 1997 Pathfinder landing site.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1505/PIA19363.jpg",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Ares 3 Landing Site: The Martian Revisited",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1505/PIA19363_1024.jpg"
  },
  {
    "date": "1998-07-28",
    "explanation": "In 1993, a strange string of comet pieces was discovered near the planet Jupiter. So unusual a sight, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) quickly became the object of much scientific curiosity.  Studies showed that the Sun would soon perturb the orbit of SL9 so that it would actually strike Jupiter in July 1994.  The studies were right. The above picture shows the impact site of SL9's fragment G on Jupiter's cloud-tops.  The size of the dark outer ring is roughly the size of the Earth.  Since Jupiter is mostly gas, the comet melted and evaporated before plunging too far into Jupiter's atmosphere.",
    "hdurl": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9807/sl9g_hst_big.gif",
    "media_type": "image",
    "service_version": "v1",
    "title": "Impact on Jupiter",
    "url": "https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/9807/sl9g_hst.jpg"
  }
]