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 November 25 [2]A night skyscape is shown over snowcapped mountains. On the left is the band of the Milky Way Galaxy, while on the right is a bright comet with two tails -- a white tail going up and trailing to the right and a longer blue tail going up and trailing off to the left. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Comet Lemmon and the Milky Way Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Lin Zixuan ([4]Tsinghua U.) Explanation: What did Comet Lemmon look like when it was at its best? One example is pictured here, featuring three celestial spectacles all at different distances. The closest spectacle is the snowcapped [5]Meili Mountains, part of the [6]Himalayas in [7]China. The middle [8]marvel is Comet Lemmon near its [9]picturesque best early this month, showing not only a white [10]dust tail trailing off to the right but its blue solar wind-distorted [11]ion tail trailing off to the left. Far in the distance on the left is the magnificent central plane of our [12]Milky Way Galaxy, featuring [13]dark dust, [14]red nebula, and including billions of [15]Sun-like stars. [16]Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) is already fading as it heads back into the outer Solar System, while the [17]Himalayan mountains will gradually [18]erode over the next billion years. The [19]Milky Way Galaxy, though, will live on -- forming [20]new mountains and comets -- for many billions of years into the future. Tomorrow's picture: huge ball of stars __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy, [38]Accessibility, [39]Notices; A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC, [43]NASA Science Activation & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2511/MilkyLemmon_Zixuan_5008.jpg 3. mailto: linzx23 at mails.tsinghua.edu dot cn 4. https://www.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/ 5. https://youtu.be/YylNkfmGNAQ 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayas 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China 8. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://i.redd.it/ahodrl8j7b351.jpg 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251117.html 10. https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/C/cometary+dust+tail 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240326.html 12. https://science.nasa.gov/resource/the-milky-way-galaxy/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap051004.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240214.html 15. https://science.nasa.gov/sun/ 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2025_A6_(Lemmon) 17. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/everest/earth/birth.html 18. https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/topics/land-surface/erosion-sedimentation 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap241105.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210303.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251124.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.com/feed.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=251125 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251126.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 44. http://www.mtu.edu/