Cosmos & Exploration

Orion snapped this high-resolution selfie in space with a camera mounted on one of its solar array wings during a routine external inspection of the spacecraft on the second day into the Artemis II mission.

The image was downlinked by the Orion Artemis II Optical Communications System.

Credit: NASA

Image Credit: NASA

NASA astronaut Christina Koch is illuminated by a screen inside the darkened Orion spacecraft on the third day of the agency's Artemis II mission. To the right of the image's center, CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen is seen in profile peering out of one of Orion's windows. Lights are turned off to avoid glare on the windows.

An illuminated sliver of Earth set against the blackness of space is seen through the window of the Orion spacecraft in this photograph from the Artemis II crew on the third day of their journey to the Moon. Date Created:2026-04-03

https://images.nasa.gov/details/art002e004441

People keep putting the recent Earth images shared from Artemis II next to the “Blue Marble” from Apollo 17 and then saying things like “Earth looks dirtier now” or “the new photos look worse because of digital camera.” Etc.

That comparison doesn’t hold up. So let’s set the fact straight.

The Blue Marble everyone recognizes is not a straight-out-of-camera image. The versions that circulate today have been processed. Colors were balanced, contrast was adjusted, and the image was cleaned up for clarity. NASA has released multiple versions over time, and the one most people have in mind is already enhanced.

On the Artemis side, the being shared “Hello World”were taken under completely different conditions. It was shot on the night side of Earth with very high ISO of 51200, and a shutter speed 1/4 second, by Nikon D5. That kind of exposure brightens everything far beyond what the human eye would see, which is why the planet can look dim and noisy. And also the stars and auroras can be seen because of that exposure.

If you compare an original Apollo 17 film scan of “Blue Marble” that hasn’t been retouched with the Artemis’s “Hello World” image that isn’t pushed with extreme exposure settings, they look far more similar than people expect.

Top Left: Artemis II’s photo of the earth as the astronauts would see by Commander Reid Wiseman https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/amf-art002e000193/

Top Right: Artemis II’s “Hello World” https://images.nasa.gov/details/art002e000192

Bottom Left: Apollo 17’s “Blue Marble” not retouched https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Blue\_Marble#/media/File%3AApollo\_17\_Blue\_Marble\_original\_orientation\_(AS17-148-22727).jpg

Bottom Right: Apollo 17’s “Blue Marble” retouched. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Blue\_Marble#/media/File%3AThe\_Blue\_Marble%2C\_AS17-148-22727.jpg

The Veil Nebula is the expanding debris of a massive star that exploded ~8,000 years ago, located about 2,100 light-years away in Cygnus.

This Hubble image shows a tiny 2-light-year section of a much larger structure spanning 110 light-years. The glowing filaments are shock waves from the explosion colliding with interstellar gas.

Colors reveal different elements: red (hydrogen), green (sulfur), and blue (oxygen). Some of these filaments are moving at nearly 1 million miles per hour.

By comparing images taken decades apart, astronomers can actually track how the nebula is expanding over time. Credits:- NASA

Today I had fun capturing the Orion capsule, traveling toward the Moon, at a distance of 314,500 km from Earth while I was taking the photos.
Compared to yesterday it has dimmed by two magnitudes, now it’s around +15 and was barely visible in the RAW files.
I stacked 32 shots of 30 seconds each: the capsule appears as a dashed line, and the central part is missing because it was hidden behind nearby TV antennas, since it was very low on the horizon.

Comet MAPS made a U-turn around the Sun today, and nothing came back.

Anduril now has over 400 telescopes around the globe. Advanced space sensing software provides real-time focal plane processing to identify & track objects. Think Sentry Tower software, but for space.

Better color​ of night sky bec gif changed it: ​https:// ​x. ​com/anduriltech/status/2040175823064588748

Link to the video with sound

Location: Lampung, Indonesia
Time: Apr. 4, 2026 around 13:00 (UTC)

Leo Triplet

taken in LRGB in 2 nights under Bortle 2 skies.

L=174X180

R=40X180

G=40X180

B=40X180

Total=14.7h

Processed in PixinSight

ADBE, SPCC, BluX, NoiseX, StarX, GHS, HDR, Curves

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-are-nasas-artemis-ii-astronauts-eating-58-tortillas-43-cups-of-coffee/