omnianasa/nasa-apod-metadata huggingface dataset:
At the Edge of Victoria Crater (2007-07-03)
We're going in.  The robotic Opportunity rover currently rolling across Mars has been prowling around the edge of the largest crater it has visited since landing over three years ago.  It has been studying Victoria crater and looking for a way in.  Now scientists on Earth have decided to take a calculated risk and plan to send Opportunity right into this ancient Martian crater over the next few weeks. Pictured is Cape St. Vincent, part of the wall of Victoria Crater next to where Opportunity will descend.  The wall itself appears to contain clues about the Martian terrain before the impact that created Victoria crater, and so will be studied during the daring descent.  Above the crater wall, far in the distance, lies a relatively featureless Martian horizon.
Red, White, and Blue Sky (2007-07-04)
Contrasting colors in this beautiful sunset sky were captured on June 30 from Clear Creek Canyon Observatory in central Arizona, USA. The twilight scene includes brilliant Venus as the evening star, with a bright Saturn just above it, shining through thin clouds. The two wandering planets were a mere 1 degree apart or so, about twice the width of the full Moon rising above the eastern horizon on the other side of the sky. In fact, such serene skyviews were possible from all over planet Earth as Venus and Saturn approached a conjunction. Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, is above and to the left of the close planetary pairing. At dusk, lights in tonight's sky will also feature Venus and Saturn low in the west and separated by about 2 degrees.
Night-Shining Clouds (2007-07-05)
Alluring noctilucent or night-shining clouds lie near the edge of space, some 80 kilometers above Earth's surface. Of course, when viewed from space the clouds are more properly called polar mesospheric clouds (PMCs) -- seen here for the first time in image data from the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite. The clouds form over the poles in the corresponding summer season and are now being seen more frequently at lower latitudes. This paticular view from June 11 details the PMC structures forming over the north polar region in white and blue. (Black indicates no cloud data was available.) The AIM satellite should be able to track two complete cloud seasons over both poles to investigate possible connections between the high altitude night-shining clouds and global change in the lower atmosphere.
Bright Galaxy NGC 2903 (2007-07-06)
Spiral galaxy NGC 2903 is only some 20 million light-years distant in the constellation Leo. One of the brighter galaxies visible from the northern hemisphere, it is surprisingly missing from Charles Messier's famous catalog of celestial sights. This impressively sharp color image shows off the galaxy's beautiful blue spiral arms. Included in the ground-based telescopic view are intriguing details of NGC 2903's central regions -- a remarkable mix of old and young star clusters with immense dust and gas clouds. In fact, NGC 2903 exhibits an exceptional rate of star formation activity near its center, also bright in radio, infrared, ultraviolet, and x-ray bands. Just a little smaller than our own Milky Way, NGC 2903 is about 80,000 light-years across.
Infrared Trifid (2007-07-07)
The Trifid Nebula, aka Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope, a well known stop in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. But where visible light pictures show the nebula divided into three parts by dark, obscuring dust lanes, this penetrating infrared image reveals filaments of glowing dust clouds and newborn stars. The spectacular false-color view is courtesy of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers have used the Spitzer infrared image data to count newborn and embryonic stars which otherwise can lie hidden in the natal dust and gas clouds of this intriguing stellar nursery. As seen here, the Trifid is about 30 light-years across and lies only 5,500 light-years away.
Shuttle Ferry (2007-07-08)
How does a space shuttle that landed in California get back to Florida for its next launch?  The answer is by ferry.  NASA operates two commercial Boeing 747 airplanes modified to carry a  space shuttle on their backs.  Designated officially as Shuttle Carrier Aircraft or SCA, the 747s were made for commercial flights but bolstered by NASA with several struts, stabilizers, and electronic monitors.  Spanning about 70 meters in length, the two aircraft's combined mass is nearly 150,000 kilograms.  Pictured above, the space shuttle Atlantis is shown being ferried back to NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida in September 1998.
The Most Distant Sun (2007-07-09)
When is the Sun most distant from Earth?  It happened again just this past weekend.  A common misconception is that the Sun is most distant during the winter, when it's the coldest.  In truth, however, the seasonal temperatures are more greatly influenced by the number of daylight hours and how high the Sun rises.  For example, during northern winter, the tilt of the Earth causes the Sun to be above the horizon for a shorter time and remain lower in the sky than in northern summer.  The picture compares the relative size of the Sun during Earth's closest approach in January (northern winter) on the left, and in July (northern summer) on the right.  The angular size of the Sun is noticeably smaller during July, when it is farther away. If the Earth's orbit was perfectly circular, the Sun would always appear to be the same size.  These two solar images were taken from Spain during 2006, but the same effect can be seen in any year from any Earth-bound location.
NGC 4449: Close-Up of a Small Galaxy (2007-07-10)
Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory. Their newly formed, bright, blue star clusters along beautiful, symmetric spiral arms are guaranteed to attract attention. But small irregular galaxies form stars too, like NGC 4449, located about 12 million light-years away. In fact, this sharp Hubble Space Telescope close-up of the well-studied galaxy clearly demonstrates that reddish star forming regions and young blue star clusters are widespread. Less than 20,000 light-years across, the small island universe is similar in size, and often compared to our Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. NGC 4449 is a member of a group of galaxies found in the constellation Canes Venatici.
Constellations and Cloudy Skies (2007-07-11)
Recorded earlier in July, the clouds of planet Earth reflect moonlight and a faint, reddish glow in this serene sea and skyscape. Beyond them lie the cosmic dust and star clouds of the Milky Way. The near-midnight view looks south from a beach in northern France and finds the constellation Sagittarius, the Archer, peaking above the horizon. Bright planet Jupiter rules on the right, wandering among the stars of the constellation Scorpius. Of course, the Galactic Center itself is hidden behind the Milky Way clouds in Sagittarius. To find them, just put your cursor over the picture and follow the arrow.
NGC 6384: Beyond the Stars (2007-07-12)
The universe is filled with galaxies. But to see them astronomers must look out beyond the stars of our galaxy, the Milky Way. For example, consider this colorful telescopic view of spiral galaxy NGC 6384, about 80 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus. At that distance, NGC 6384 spans an estimated 150,000 light-years. The sharp image shows details in the distant galaxy's blue spiral arms and yellowish core. Still, the individual stars seen in the picture are all in the close foreground, well within our own galaxy. The brighter Milky Way stars show noticeable crosses, or diffraction spikes, caused by the telescope itself. This particular field of view is about 1/4 degree wide and is relatively rich in foreground stars because it looks out near the crowded center of the Milky Way.
Manhattanhenge: A New York Sunset (2007-07-13)
Today, if it is clear, well placed New Yorkers can go outside at sunset and watch their city act like a modern version of Stonehenge.  Manhattan will flood dramatically with sunlight just as the Sun sets precisely on the  centreline of every street.  Usually, the tall buildings that line the gridded streets of New York City's tallest borough will hide the setting Sun.  This effect makes Manhattan a type of modern Stonehenge, although only aligned to about 30 degrees east of north.  Were Manhattan's road grid perfectly aligned to east and west, today's effect would occur on the Vernal and  Autumnal Equinox, March 21 and September 21, the only two days that the Sun rises and sets due east and west.  Pictured above in this horizontally stretched image, the Sun sets down 34th Street as viewed from Park Avenue. If today's sunset is hidden by clouds do not despair -- the same thing happens twice each year, in late May and mid July.  On none of these occasions, however, should you ever look directly at the Sun.
RCW 79: Stars in a Bubble (2007-07-14)
A cosmic bubble of gas and dust, RCW 79 has grown to about 70 light-years in diameter, blown by the winds and radiation from hot young stars. Infrared light from the dust embedded in the nebula is tinted red in this gorgeous false-color view from the Spitzer Space Telescope. A good 17 thousand light-years away in the grand southern constellation Centaurus, the expanding nebula itself has triggered star formation as it plows into the gas and dust surrounding it. In fact, this penetrating infrared picture reveals groups of new stars as yellowish points scattered along the bubble's edge. One remarkable group still lies within its own natal bubble at about 7 o'clock (lower left), while another can be seen near the upper gap at about 3 o'clock (right) from the bubble's center.
Aurora from Space (2007-07-15)
From the ground, spectacular auroras seem to dance high above. But the International Space Station (ISS) orbits at nearly the same height as many auroras, sometimes passing over them, and sometimes right through them.  Still, the auroral electron and proton  streams pose no direct danger to the ISS. In 2003, ISS Science Officer Don Pettit captured the green aurora, pictured above in a digitally sharpened image.  From orbit, Pettit reported that changing auroras appeared to crawl around like giant green amoebas.  Over 300 kilometers below, the Manicouagan Impact Crater can be seen in northern Canada, planet Earth.
The Lagoon Nebula in Gas, Dust, and Stars (2007-07-16)
Stars are battling gas and dust in the Lagoon Nebula but the photographers are winning. Also known as M8, this photogenic nebula is visible even without binoculars towards the constellation of Sagittarius. The energetic processes of star formation create not only the colors but the chaos.  The red-glowing gas results from high-energy starlight striking interstellar hydrogen gas.  The dark dust filaments that lace M8 were created in the atmospheres of cool giant stars and in the debris from supernovae explosions.  The light from M8 we see today left about 5,000 years ago. Light takes about 50 years to cross this section of M8.
The Same Color Illusion (2007-07-17)
Are square A and B the same color? They are. Are too.  To verify this, click on the above image to see them connected.  The above illusion, called the same color illusion, illustrates that purely human observations in science may be ambiguous or inaccurate.  Even such a seemingly direct perception as relative color.  Similar illusions exist on the sky, such as the size of the Moon near the horizon, or the apparent shapes of astronomical objects.  The advent of automated, reproducible, measuring devices such as CCDs have made science in general and astronomy in particular less prone to, but not free of, human-biased illusions.
Planets over Pony Express Lake (2007-07-18)
Beautiful sunset sky colors are reflected in Pony Express Lake in this twilight skyview from northern Missouri, USA, planet Earth. Recorded on Monday, a two day old crescent Moon and brilliant planet Venus shine through thin clouds. Joining the conjunction on the right of the Moon's sunlit crescent is fellow wanderer Saturn, with Regulus, alpha star of the constellation Leo, above and right of Venus. Moonlight and Venus light streak the almost-calm lake waters.
The Hercules Cluster of Galaxies (2007-07-19)
These are galaxies of the Hercules Cluster, an archipelago of island universes a mere 500 million light-years away. Also known as Abell 2151, this cluster is loaded with gas and dust rich, star-forming spiral galaxies but has relatively few elliptical galaxies, which lack gas and dust and the associated newborn stars. The colors in this remarkably deep composite image clearly show the star forming galaxies with a blue tint and galaxies with older stellar populations with a yellowish cast. The sharp picture spans about 1/2 degree across the cluster center, corresponding to over 4 million light-years at the cluster's estimated distance. In the cosmic vista many galaxies seem to be colliding or merging while others seem distorted - clear evidence that cluster galaxies commonly interact. In fact, the Hercules Cluster itself may be seen as the result of ongoing mergers of smaller galaxy clusters and is thought to be similar to young galaxy clusters in the much more distant, early Universe.
Apollo 11: East Crater Panorama (2007-07-20)
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first to walk on the Moon. This panorama of their landing site sweeps across the magnificent desolation of the Moon's Sea of Tranquility, with their Lunar Module, the Eagle, in the background at the far left. East Crater, about 30 meters wide and 4 meters deep, is on the right (scroll right), and was so named because it is about 60 meters east of the Lunar Module. Armstrong had piloted the Eagle safely over the crater. Near the end of his stay on the lunar surface Armstrong strayed far enough from the Lunar Module to take the pictures used to construct this wide-angle view, his shadow appearing at the panorama's left edge. The object near the middle foreground is a stereo close-up camera.
Infrared Andromeda (2007-07-21)
This wide, detailed Spitzer Space Telescope view features infrared light from dust (red) and old stars (blue) in Andromeda, a massive spiral galaxy a mere 2.5 million light-years away. In fact, with over twice the diameter of our own Milky Way, Andromeda is the largest nearby galaxy. Andromeda's population of bright young stars define its sweeping spiral arms in visible light images, but here the infrared view clearly follows the lumpy dust lanes heated by the young stars as they wind even closer to the galaxy's core. Constructed to explore Andromeda's infrared brightness and stellar populations, the full mosaic image is composed of about 3,000 individual frames. Two smaller companion galaxies, NGC 205 (below) and M32 (above) are also included in the combined fields. The data confirm that Andromeda (aka M31) houses around 1 trillion stars, compared to 4 hundred billion for the Milky Way.
The Flight of Helios (2007-07-22)
An example of solar-powered flight, NASA's Helios aircraft flew almost one hundred years after the Wright brothers' historic flight on December 17, 1903. Pictured here at 10,000 feet in in skies northwest of Kauai, Hawaii in August 2001, the remotely piloted Helios is traveling at about 25 miles per hour. Essentially an ultralight flying wing with 14 electric motors, the aircraft was built by AeroVironment Inc. Covered with solar cells, Helios' impressive 247 foot wide wing exceeded the wing span and even overall length of a Boeing 747 jet airliner. Climbing during daylight hours, the prototype aircraft ultimately reached an altitude just short of 100,000 feet, breaking records for non-rocket powered flight. Helios was intended as a technology demonstrator, but in the extremely thin air 100,000 feet above Earth's surface, the flight of Helios also approached conditions for winged flight in the atmosphere of Mars.
Verona Rupes: Tallest Known Cliff in the Solar System (2007-07-23)
Could you survive a jump off the tallest cliff in the Solar System?  Quite possibly.  Verona Rupes on Uranus' moon Miranda is estimated to be 20 kilometers deep -- ten times the depth of the Earth's Grand Canyon.   Given Miranda's low gravity, it would take about 12 minutes for a thrill-seeking adventurer to fall from the top, reaching the bottom at the speed of a racecar -- about 200 kilometers per hour.   Even so, the fall might be survivable given proper airbag protection.  The above image of Verona Rupes was captured by the passing Voyager 2 robotic spacecraft in 1986.  How the giant cliff was created remains unknown, but is possibly related to a large impact or tectonic surface motion.
Spiral Galaxy M83: The Southern Pinwheel (2007-07-24)
M83 is one of the closest and brightest spiral galaxies on the sky. Visible with binoculars in the constellation of Hydra, majestic spiral arms have prompted its nickname as the Southern Pinwheel. Although discovered 250 years ago, only much later was it appreciated that M83 was not a nearby gas cloud, but a barred spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way Galaxy.  M83, pictured above, is a prominent member of a group of galaxies that includes Centaurus A and NGC 5253, all of which lie about 15 million light years distant.  Several bright supernova explosions have been recorded in M83.  An intriguing double circumnuclear ring has been discovered at the center of M83.
Global Dust Storms Threaten Mars Rovers (2007-07-25)
Will global dust storms terminate the robotic Martian rovers? Over the past month, windy dust storms have blocked much needed sunlight from reaching the solar panels of both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers exploring Mars.  At times, as much as 99 percent of direct sunlight has been obscured, causing worry that the batteries might run out of energy before the storms end -- which may be as long as weeks. In an effort to weather these storms, Earth controllers have programmed the rovers to restrict movements and to use as little power as possible.  Although the rovers have been working for a remarkable three years past their planned three month lifetimes, their immediate future is now uncertain.  Pictured above, the Opportunity rover perched on the edge of Victoria Crater peered for a month into the distance as dust made the Martian air increasingly opaque.
Hot Stars in the Rosette Nebula (2007-07-26)
Winds and radiation from massive hot stars in the Rosette Nebula have cleared the natal gas and dust from the center of the nearby star-forming region. They also pose a danger to planet forming disks around young, cooler stars in the neighborhood. This Spitzer Space Telescope infrared image of dust clouds near the Rosette's central region, shows the cleared-out cavity. The view spans about 45 light-years at the the nebula's estimated distance of 5,200 light-years. Putting your cursor over the false color picture will highlight the dangerous hot stars, classified as O stars with surface temperatures of 25,000 kelvins or higher. Astronomers calculate that cool stars wandering within about 1.6 light-years of the Rosette's O stars are in danger of having their planet forming disks destroyed.
The Tidal Tail of NGC 3628 (2007-07-27)
A mere 30 million light-years away, large spiral galaxy NGC 3628 (center) shares its neighborhood in the local Universe with two other large spirals, in a magnificent grouping otherwise known as the Leo Triplett. In fact, fellow trio member M65 is near the bottom edge of this deep cosmic group portrait, with M66, just above it and to the left. But, perhaps most intriguing is the spectacular tail stretching up and to the left for about 300,000 light-years from NGC 3628's warped, edge-on disk. Known as a tidal tail, the structure has been drawn out of the galaxy by gravitational tides during brief but violent past interactions with its large neighbors. Not often imaged so distinctly, the tidal tail is composed of young bluish star clusters and star-forming regions.
Full Moondark (2007-07-28)
The brilliant full Moon might not look quite like this to skygazers next Monday, but the image is a mosaic of 18 digital frames recorded when the Moon was only about seven hours past its exact full phase or time of maximum illumination as viewed from Earth. Here, the pixel values corresponding to light and dark areas have been translated in reverse, or inverted, producing a false-color representation reminiscent of a black and white photographic negative. Normally bright rays from the large crater Tycho dominate the southern (bottom) features as easily followed dark lines emanating from the 85 kilometer diameter impact site. Normally dark lunar mare appear light and silvery. Traditionally, astronomical images recorded on photographic plates were directly examined in this negative color scheme, which can help the eye pick out faint details.
The Center of Centaurus A (2007-07-29)
A fantastic jumble of young blue star clusters, gigantic glowing gas clouds, and imposing dark dust lanes surrounds the central region of the active galaxy Centaurus A. This mosaic of Hubble Space Telescope images taken in blue, green, and red light has been processed to present a natural color picture of this cosmic maelstrom. Infrared images from the Hubble have also shown that hidden at the center of this activity are what seem to be disks of matter spiraling into  a black hole with a billion times the mass of the Sun! Centaurus A itself is apparently the result of a collision of two galaxies and the left over debris is steadily being consumed by the black hole. Astronomers believe that such black hole central engines generate the radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray energy radiated by Centaurus A and other active galaxies. But for an active galaxy Centaurus A is close, a mere 10 million  light-years away, and is a relatively convenient laboratory for exploring these powerful sources of energy.
The Four Suns of HD 98800 (2007-07-30)
How would it look to have four suns in the sky? Planets of the HD 98800 system, if they exist, would experience such a view.  HD 98800 is a  multiple star system about 150 light years from Earth -- right in our section of the Milky Way Galaxy.  For years it has been known that HD 98800 consists of two pairs of double stars, with one pair surrounded by a disk of dust.   The star pairs are located about 50 AU from each other -- in comparison just outside the orbit of Pluto.  Recent data from the Earth-trailing Spitzer Space Telescope in infrared light, however, indicate that the dust disk has gaps that appear consistent with being cleared by planets orbiting in the disk.  If so, one planet appears to be orbiting at a distance similar to Mars of our own Solar System.  Pictured above is an artist's drawing of how the HD 98800 system might appear to a nearby observer.
A Laser Strike at the Galactic Center (2007-07-31)
Why are these people shooting a powerful laser into the center of our Galaxy?  Fortunately, this is not meant to be the first step in a Galactic war.  Rather, astronomers at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) site in Chile are trying to measure the distortions of Earth's ever changing atmosphere.  Constant imaging of high-altitude atoms excited by the laser -- which appear like an artificial star -- allow astronomers to instantly measure atmospheric blurring.   This information is fed back to a VLT telescope mirror which is then slightly deformed to minimize this blurring.  In this case, a VLT was observing our Galaxy's center, and so Earth's atmospheric blurring in that direction was needed.  As for inter-galaxy warfare, when viewed from our Galaxy's center, no casualties are expected.  In fact, the light from this powerful laser would combine with light from our Sun to together appear only as bright as a faint and distant star.