Jekyll2026-09-30T22:37:47-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/feed/apod.xmlDominic D’Apice | ApodDeveloper - Azure Infrastructure AI in Montréal, Canada. 25+ years automating complex systems: Azure, Databricks, Ansible, Terraform, MLOps & DataOps.Dominic D'ApiceSh2-188: The Shrimp Nebula2026-09-29T08:00:00-04:002026-09-29T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/29/sh2-188-the-shrimp-nebulaWhat causes the swirl in the Shrimp Nebula? Its high speed is likely. What is sure is that Sh2-188 is one of the larger planetary nebulas on the night sky, by angular size, spanning about half the diameter of the Moon. Moreover, the white-dwarf core – leftover from the Sun-like star that shed its outer atmosphere – is moving unusually fast through interstellar space, creating a bow shock most visible on the upper left that is similar to a boat plowing through water. Although faint, the Shrimp Nebula glows also by compressing and brightening gas on its leading edge. The featured image was taken in the light of hydrogen, sulfur, and oxygen by a backyard telescope in Krakow, Poland…]]>Dominic D'ApiceCosmic Latte: The Average Color of the Universe2026-09-28T08:00:00-04:002026-09-28T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/28/cosmic-latte-the-average-color-of-the-universeWhat color is the universe? More precisely, if the entire sky were smeared out, what color would the final mix be? This whimsical question came up when trying to determine what stars are commonplace in nearby galaxies. The answer, depicted here, is a conditionally perceived shade of beige. In computer parlance: #FFF8E7. To determine this, astronomers computationally averaged the light emitted by one of the larger samples of galaxies analyzed: the 200,000 galaxies of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey. The resulting cosmic spectrum has some emission in all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, but a single perceived composite color. This color has become much less blue over the past 10…]]>Dominic D'ApiceAndromeda before Photoshop2026-09-27T08:00:00-04:002026-09-27T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/27/andromeda-before-photoshopWhat does the Andromeda galaxy really look like? The featured image shows how our Milky Way Galaxy’s closest major galactic neighbor really appears in a long exposure through Earth’s busy skies and with a digital camera that introduces normal imperfections. The picture is a stack of 223 images, each a 300 second exposure, taken from a garden observatory in Portugal during 2019. Obvious image deficiencies include bright parallel airplane trails, long and continuous satellite trails, short cosmic ray streaks, and bad pixels. These imperfections were actually not removed with Photoshop specifically, but rather greatly reduced with a series of computer software packages that included…]]>Dominic D'ApiceThe Ghosts of Five Supernovas2026-09-24T08:00:00-04:002026-09-24T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/24/the-ghosts-of-five-supernovasThe ghosts of five supernovas haunt this extraordinary image. It was acquired at Oukaïmeden Observatory in Morocco with approximately 200 hours of observations and shows a large patch of the sky, equivalent to the area of one thousand full moons tiled together, in the constellation of Auriga (the charioteer). From left to right, the five supernova remnants visible across the field are G181.1+9.5, G182.4+4.3, G179.0+2.6, G180.0−1.7 (Sh2-240, the Spaghetti Nebula), and G178.2−4.2. They are highlighted in the annotated image, together with open cluster M37 and the Tadpole Nebula. As each explosion expanded into space, it created a growing shell of shocked gas and delicate…]]>Dominic D'ApiceA New Lunar Crater: McGetchin2026-09-23T08:00:00-04:002026-09-23T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/23/a-new-lunar-crater-mcgetchinA once-in-a-lifetime crater has appeared on the Moon! A comet or asteroid roughly the size of a humpback whale (approximately 10-20 meters, 30-60 feet) crashed into the Moon sometime between April and May of 2024. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), with its monthly monitoring of the Moon, captured today’s images of the lunar surface before and after the event. The resulting crater, named after Apollo-era lunar scientist McGetchin, is two soccer fields across. Craters of this size are only expected once every 132 years! Follow up thermal imaging revealed a large cold spot that surrounds the warm crater. Surface impacts will puff up the loose lunar sediment, or regolith, making it…]]>Dominic D'ApiceChance Triple Alignment: Plane, Space Station, Sun2026-09-22T08:00:00-04:002026-09-22T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/22/chance-triple-alignment-plane-space-station-sunThis shot captured an unexpected silhouette. Which is it? It isn’t the sunspots, the small dark regions caused by concentrated magnetic fields visible around the Sun’s bright disk. Sunspots typically last for weeks and were expected, since these spots were seen previously. It isn’t the International Space Station (ISS), the small dark structure on the middle left. This is because the featured picture was planned with sub-second timing to record the iconic structure passing before the Sun. It is the airplane. Just as this exposure was taking place in June, from Prasek in the Czech Republic, an airplane began its own miniature partial eclipse. The result is this triply aligned image…]]>Dominic D'ApiceCocoon Nebula Wide Field2026-09-21T08:00:00-04:002026-09-21T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/21/cocoon-nebula-wide-fieldWhen does a nebula look like a comet? In this crowded starfield covering over two degrees within the high-flying constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), the eye is drawn to the Cocoon Nebula. A compact star forming region, the cosmic Cocoon punctuates a nebula bright in emission and reflection on the lower right, with a long trail of interstellar dust clouds to the left, making the entire complex appear a bit like a comet. Cataloged as IC 5146, the central bright head of the nebula spans about 10 light years, while the dark dusty tail spans nearly 100 light years. Both are located about 2,500 light years away. A bright star near the colorful nebula’s center likely supplies power and…]]>Dominic D'ApiceAnalemma over the Callanish Stones2026-09-20T08:00:00-04:002026-09-20T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/20/analemma-over-the-callanish-stonesIf you went outside at the same time every day and took a picture that included the Sun, how would the Sun’s position change? A visual answer to that question is an analemma, a composite image taken from the same spot at the same time over the course of a year. The featured analemma was composed from images taken every few days at noon near the village of Callanish in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland, UK. In the foreground are the Callanish Stones, a stone circle built around 2700 BC during humanity’s Bronze Age. It is not known if the placement of the Callanish Stones has or had astronomical significance. The ultimate causes for the figure-8 shape of this and all analemmas are the…]]>Dominic D'ApiceA Zodiacal Night2026-09-19T08:00:00-04:002026-09-19T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/19/a-zodiacal-nightAlso known as the false dawn, a luminous band of zodiacal light is captured in this dark night skyscape. The serene view was recorded just before the beginning of astronomical twilight during September’s star party at the remote Hanle Dark Sky Reserve, Ladakh, India, planet Earth. At about 4,500 meters altitude, the dark sky reserve presents a haven for hardy stargazing and astrophotography enthusiasts. While meteors streak through the night, bright planet Jupiter appears immersed in the faint zodiacal glow near the eastern horizon. Follow the zodiacal band toward the zenith to find open star cluster M44 and a yellowish tinged planet Mars near the center of the frame. In fact,…]]>Dominic D'ApiceMessier 33: The Triangulum Galaxy2026-09-18T08:00:00-04:002026-09-18T08:00:00-04:00https://dominicdapice.com/sky/2026/09/18/messier-33-the-triangulum-galaxyThe small, northern constellation Triangulum harbors this magnificent face-on spiral galaxy, Messier 33. Its popular names include the Pinwheel Galaxy or just the Triangulum Galaxy. M33 is over 50,000 light-years in diameter, third largest in the Local Group of galaxies after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), and our own Milky Way. About 3 million light-years from the Milky Way, M33 is itself thought to be a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy and astronomers in these two galaxies would likely have spectacular views of each other’s grand spiral star systems. As for the view from the Milky Way, this sharp telescopic image shows off M33’s blue star clusters and pinkish star forming regions along…]]>Dominic D'Apice