Astronomy Picture of the Day
Daily curated astronomical imagery from NASA
2026-10-02
NASA Science
🌟 Did you know that the stunning image you’re seeing is actually a cosmic collection of 313 different nebulas? Astrophotographer Bing Xin spent a mind-blowing 800 hours under the dark skies of China and Mongolia to capture every detail of this massive Sharpless Catalog. It’s truly incredible to realize that in this single composite, you are looking at everything from the birthplaces of stars to the glowing remains of exploded ones!
What does it take to image hundreds of nebulas? Today’s image contains the entire Sharpless Catalog of H II Regions, totaling 313 objects. Zoom in and explore! You may spot fan favorites like the Eagle (Sh2-49), Heart (Sh2-190), and Orion (Sh2-281) Nebulas. Despite its name, this catalog contains more than the glow of ionized hydrogen that makes up H II regions. There are planetary nebulas (the Medusa Nebula, Sh2-274) and supernova remnants (the Spaghetti Nebula, Sh2-240) as well. Astrophotographer Bing Xin traversed the dark skies of Eastern China and Inner Mongolia to catch them all. Narrowband filters that primarily capture light from ionized hydrogen and oxygen as well as red-green-blue filters were used. Each object took 2 to 6 hours to capture, with the entire catalog taking around 800 hours to complete! Which object is your favorite?APOD's email for image submissions has changed. Please see: APOD SubmissionsTomorrow's picture: just Curiosity