Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2025 June 30 [2]A spiral galaxy is shown with an unusual feature. Faint wisps of stars are seen both above and below the galaxy. A wisp above appears like an umbrella. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. NGC 4651: The Umbrella Galaxy Image Credit: [3]Rabeea Alkuwari & [4]Anas Almajed Explanation: It's raining stars. What appears to be a giant cosmic umbrella is now known to be a tidal stream of stars stripped from a small [5]satellite galaxy. The main galaxy, spiral galaxy [6]NGC 4651, is about the size of our [7]Milky Way, while its stellar parasol appears to extend some 100 thousand light-years above this galaxy's bright disk. A small galaxy was likely torn apart by [8]repeated encounters as it swept back and forth on [9]eccentric orbits through NGC 4651. The remaining stars will surely fall back and become part of a [10]combined larger galaxy over the next few million years. The [11]featured deep image was [12]captured in long exposures from [13]Saudi Arabia. The Umbrella Galaxy lies about 50 million [14]light-years distant toward the [15]well-groomed northern constellation of Berenice's Hair ([16]Coma Berenices). APOD in a Modern Format [17]StellarSnap Tomorrow's picture: eye sky a dragon __________________________________________________________________ [18]< | [19]Archive | [20]Submissions | [21]Index | [22]Search | [23]Calendar | [24]RSS | [25]Education | [26]About APOD | [27]Discuss | [28]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [29]Robert Nemiroff ([30]MTU) & [31]Jerry Bonnell ([32]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [33]Specific rights apply. [34]NASA Web Privacy, [35]Accessibility, [36]Notices; A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC, [40]NASA Science Activation & [41]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2506/UmbrellaGal_Alkuwari_3843.png 3. https://www.instagram.com/bolahdan/ 4. https://www.instagram.com/anas_almajed/ 5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_galaxy 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_4651 7. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130514.html 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_eccentricity#/media/File:Animation_of_Orbital_eccentricity.gif 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120604.html 11. https://www.instagram.com/p/DJ3wrYQMF7Q/ 12. https://youtu.be/NAuycMXDM4U 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudi_Arabia 14. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/light-year/ 15. https://www.preventivevet.com/hubfs/how to brush your cat.png 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coma_Berenices 17. https://stellarsnap.space/ 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250629.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 24. https://apod.com/feed.rss 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 27. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250630 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250701.html 29. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 30. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 31. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 32. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 34. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 35. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 36. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 40. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 41. http://www.mtu.edu/