wbat the hell you weren't even exaggerating

The Spectral Titans, by Anthony Machuca

ASTRONOMY PICTURE OF THE DAY July 6, 2026 at 05:00PM Where can you find dragons fighting in the night sky? In the southern constellation of the Altar: Ara. The dragons are, of course, actually made of suggestively shaped gas and dust. The celestial home of the mythological battling beasts is cataloged as NGC 6188 and located about 4,000 light years away near the edge of a large molecular cloud. Massive, young stars of the embedded Ara OB1 association were formed there only a few million years ago, sculpting the dark shapes and powering the nebular glow with stellar winds and intense ultraviolet radiation. Joining NGC 6188 on this cosmic canvas, visible toward the lower right, is unusual emission nebula NGC 6164, also created by one of the region's massive stars. This impressively wide field picture, captured from Queensland, Australia, spans over 2 degrees (four full Moons). Image: https://ift.tt/Hb24DcA via NASA https://ift.tt/YGiKCak APOD --> https://ift.tt/M694GhC

Alniyat (σ Scorpii) is a quadruple star system about 570 light years away. The two largest stars are both blue giants. Its name comes from the Arabic word al-niyāţ meaning "the arteries" since it sits near Antares (α Scorpii), the scorpion's heart.

The Fireworks Galaxy, NGC 6946 // SteveDSWM

my coworker announces that he's off to the dentist. someone reacts with a tooth emoji. is this a statement of dentist solidarity? a wish for my coworker to return with more (or fewer?) teeth than he set out with? simple word association? who can say

Artist Jane Crowther

Emile-Allain Séguy (French, 1877--1951)