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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       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.   
      
                                  2026 January 2   
      
                                    NanoSail-D2   
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh   
      
      Explanation: In 2011, on January 20, NASA's NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very   
      thin and very reflective 10 square meter sail becoming the first solar   
      sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff of   
      science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by   
      astronomer Johannes Kepler, who had observed comet tails blown by the   
      solar wind. But modern solar sail spacecraft designs, like NanoSail-D2,   
      Japan's interplanetary spacecraft IKAROS, or the Planetary Society's   
      Lightsail A, rely on the small but continuous pressure from sunlight   
      itself for thrust. Glinting in the sunlight as it circled planet Earth,   
      NanoSail-D2's solar sail was periodically bright and visible to the   
      eye. These remarkably detailed images were captured by manually   
      tracking the orbiting solar sail spacecraft with a small telescope.   
      
                         Tomorrow's picture: moon lighting   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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