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APOD: 2026 November 1 – Colors of the Moon

2026-11-01 04:05

APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Different colored images of the Moon are arranged in a spiral pattern.

Colors of the Moon

Explanation: What color is the Moon? It depends on the night — and the time. Outside of the Earth’s atmosphere, the dark Moon, which shines by reflected sunlight, appears a magnificently brown-tinged gray. The featured image highlights a collection of apparent colors of the full moon on Earth, documented by one astrophotographer over 10 years from different locations across Italy. A red– or yellow-colored moon usually indicates a moon seen near the horizon. There, some of the blue light has been scattered away by a long path through the Earth’s atmosphere, sometimes laden with fine dust. A blue-colored moon is more rare and can indicate an atmosphere carrying larger dust particles. What created the purple moon is unclear — it may be a combination of several effects. The last image captures the total lunar eclipse of 2018 July — where the moon, in Earth’s shadow, appeared a faint red — due to light refracted through air around the Earth. Have you ever seen an unusually colorful Moon?

Tomorrow’s picture: open space

Date:	November 1, 2026
Credit & Copyright:	Marcella Giulia Pace
Authors & editors:	Robert Nemiroff, Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Keighley Rockcliffe
A service of:	ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.

Yesterday’s Image

APOD: 2026 October 31 – Night on a Spooky Planet

Tomorrow’s Image

APOD: 2026 October 31 – Night on a Spooky Planet

2026-10-31 04:05

APOD

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Steam is venting from volcanic fumaroles photographed against greenish aurorae.

Night on a Spooky Planet

Explanation: What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth on a dark and stormy night, of course. The ghostly scene was photographed at Hverir, a geothermally active area found along northeastern Iceland’s volcanic landscape. Triggered by solar activity, geomagnetic storms have unleashed energetic particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field. Penetrating the planet’s upper atmosphere at high latitudes, the particles create auroral displays in the starry night sky. Ghostly towers of steam and gas are venting from local fumaroles to dance against the eerie, greenish northern lights. For now, auroral activity on planet Earth remains in a high state as the Sun is only in early phases of decline from the peak of its solar activity cycle. And soon, other ghostly apparitions may dance in your neighborhood. Happy Halloween!

Tomorrow’s picture: many moons

Date:	October 31, 2026
Credit & Copyright:	Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)
Authors & editors:	Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Robert Nemiroff, Keighley Rockcliffe
A service of:	ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.

Yesterday’s Image

APOD: 2026 October 30 – Haunting the Cepheus Flare

Tomorrow’s Image

NASA Releases MAX POWER Key Events for Media, Participants

2026-10-30 19:31

Looking up, three white and black fighter jets fly in formation across a bright, blue sky.

NASA’s Freedom 250 F-5 team, including NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, performs a flyover during the national anthem at an NFL game between the Cleveland Browns and the Carolina Panthers at Huntington Bank Field, Sept. 27, 2026, in Cleveland.

Credit: NASA/Jordan Cochran

America’s newest aerospace expo and air show – MAX POWER – is fast approaching, and NASA has announced key events beginning Friday, Nov. 6, and running through Sunday, Nov. 8, hosted on and near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Through multiple park experiences at MAX POWER, NASA and a variety of external collaborators will showcase the newest aircraft, autonomous vehicles, technologies, and more defining the future of air and space. NASA will display its quiet supersonic X-59 plane, and agency partners will showcase Moon rovers, spacecraft, and more. The expo also is a culmination of the agency’s recent Inspiration Tour, which included numerous flyovers to highlight NASA’s fleet of aircraft.

A current schedule of events is available on the agency’s website.

MAX POWER includes opportunities to meet leadership, astronauts, engineers, scientists, and other subject matter experts during the family-friendly public events with gates opening at 9 a.m. EST on Nov. 7 and Nov. 8.

NASA also will share multiple news updates during the weekend, including hosting a news conference at 5 p.m. on Nov. 7, to provide its latest Moon Base update. Located near the lunar South Pole, the Moon Base is humanity’s first outpost for long-term lunar exploration.

Live coverage of the news conference will stream on a variety of platforms online. Learn where to watch:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Join NASA for Key Events

Media credentialing for this event is closed. Media approved for this event must request interviews in advance. Space in the news conference is limited, and first come, first served. Media also may participate in the news conference virtually. To request call details or an interview, please contact Lauren Low in the NASA Headquarters newsroom at: lauren.e.low@nasa.gov.

A short list of key NASA activities during MAX POWER are listed below. All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time, and are subject to change.

Friday, Nov. 6:

2 p.m., to 4 p.m.: Media one-on-one opportunities to preview weekend MAX POWER activities
- Location: NASA Press Site

Saturday, Nov. 7:

10 a.m.: Nuclear NASA media gaggle
- Location: UP.Summit Main Stage
- Cynthia Simmons, director, Space Reactors Division

11:30 a.m.: Opening air show remarks featuring NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson
- Location: Air Dot Show Main Stage

11:58 a.m.: F-5 flyover in the Air Dot Show featuring NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman

12:45 p.m.: Meet the Astronauts: NASA’s Artemis III Crew
- Location: Air Dot Show Main Stage
- Participants include:
  - NASA astronaut Randy Bresnik (mission commander)
  - ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano (pilot)
  - NASA astronaut Frank Rubio (mission specialist)
  - NASA astronaut Bob Hines, backup crew member
- NASA will host a media gaggle with crew immediately following this event.

1:31 p.m.: MiG-29 flyover featuring Isaacman

2 p.m.: Learn about NASA’s Roman Space Telescope
- Location: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (Journey to Mars Theater)
- Participant:
  - Remarks by Julie McEnery, senior project scientist, Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, NASA Goddard

5 p.m. Moon Base News Conference
- Location: Press Site AuditoriumParticipants:
  - NASA Administrator Jared IsaacmanCarlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base ProgramNicky Fox, associate administrator for Science, NASA HeadquartersDayna Ise, acting director, Utility and Infrastructure Office, Moon Base Program
- NASA subject matter experts will be available for one-on-one interviews following this announcement.

Sunday, Nov. 8

9 a.m. NASA’s X-59 media gaggle
- Location: UP.Summit Exhibit Area
- Participants:
  - Laurie Grindle, director, NASA Aeronautics Division
  - Peter Coen, NASA Quesst mission manager, NASA Langley
  - Jim “Clue” Less, test pilot, X-59, NASA Armstrong

10 a.m.: Student challenge announcement
- Location: Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Rocket Garden
- Participants:
  - NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
  - Carlos García-Galán, manager, Moon Base Program
- NASA experts may be available for interviews at this location. Media interested in attending must contact Lauren Low by 5 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, at: lauren.e.low@nasa.gov.

11:58 a.m.: F-5 flyover in the Air Dot Show featuring Isaacman

12:45 p.m.: United States Space Academy
- Location: UP.Summit Main Stage
- NASA Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson

12:45 p.m.: Meet the Astronauts: NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12
- Location: Air Dot Show Main Stage
- Participants:
  - NASA astronaut Jessica Meir
  - NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway

1:31 p.m.: MiG-29 flyover featuring Isaacman

For more information about MAX POWER, including the latest schedule of events and how to attend, visit the agency’s website:

https://www.nasa.gov/maxpower

-end-

George Alderman / Cheryl Warner
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
george.a.alderman@nasa.gov / cheryl.m.warner@nasa.gov

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Captures Eerie Cat’s Head

2026-10-30 15:56

Mid-infrared image of the Cat’s Head Nebula by the James Webb Space Telescope. A bluish-gray filament of dust is in the center, stretching from the bottom to almost the very top. It has a narrow, irregular shape that resembles a cat sitting with its back toward the viewer and a tail extending downward. The tail ends at the lower one-third of the image and widens to a triangular peak of dust. The cat’s head is turned toward the right, revealing a white glowing eye. The background is mostly red, with the top left and right corners revealing the black background of space. On the cat’s left is a dome-shaped grouping of faint filaments of dust. Scattered throughout the view are yellow and blue stars, some with Webb’s signature eight-point diffraction spikes.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

Intricate structures within the Cat’s Head Nebula are illuminated in this mid-infrared view from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope released on Oct. 29, 2026. The distinctive “cat’s head” shape of the nebula was likely sculpted over time by the intense ultraviolet radiation and winds from massive stars in the Carina Nebula. As this stellar feedback erodes the surrounding gas and dust, denser material within the feline-shaped pillar resists erosion, at least for now.

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)

NASA Explores Potential Commercial Servicing for Hubble Telescope

2026-10-30 14:51

The Hubble Space Telescope returns to orbit as an improved telescope after its second servicing mission in February 1997.

NASA

NASA issued a Request for Information Oct. 29 to learn more about industry capabilities for in-space servicing to support the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope.

“Hubble still has important science ahead of it, and we should be looking at every reasonable opportunity to keep it delivering for as long as possible,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “If there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset already on orbit, we owe it to the American taxpayer and the scientific community to explore them. Extending Hubble’s life would mean more discoveries, more science, and more opportunities to expand our understanding of the universe.”

The Request for Information seeks commercial interest in: potentially conducting a mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude to extend its science lifetime; servicing Hubble to enhance its capabilities; or performing a safe, controlled re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere or orbital disposal at the end of Hubble’s mission.

“Hubble is a national icon that has fundamentally changed how humanity views our universe for more than 35 years,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Commercial industry has rapidly evolved in recent years to offer new capabilities for in-space satellite capture and servicing. Given the time we have until Hubble’s anticipated re-entry, we are eager to explore the breadth of possibilities to boost Hubble to a higher orbit while we develop the flagship mission to follow.”

The Request for Information is available online and will remain open for responses until 3 p.m. EST, Monday, Nov. 30.

Like all spacecraft in low Earth orbit, Hubble’s altitude is slowly decreasing over time because of atmospheric drag. Hubble does not have a propulsion system to maintain its own orbit, and analysis predicts Hubble is likely to re-enter the atmosphere in the 2033 to 2034 timeframe. As such, NASA anticipates that a mission would need to take place by 2032.

The Hubble Space Telescope has been operating for more than three decades and continues to make ground-breaking discoveries that shape our fundamental understanding of the universe. Hubble is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope and mission operations. Lockheed Martin Space, based in Denver, also supports mission operations at Goddard. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, conducts Hubble science operations for NASA.

To learn more about NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/hubble

Media Contacts:

Alise Fisher
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-2546
alise.m.fisher@nasa.gov

Claire Andreoli
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
202-286-1940
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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Last Updated

Oct 30, 2026

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