← Another date

Birthday · December 30, 2025

A little universe, just for you

Your date.
Ready to give.

Choose a greeting

Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed

Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.

Choose an image from another year

Your celebration date stays the same. Each image keeps its actual publication date.

Change the year

Selected image source ↗ APOD published December 30, 2025. Credit: Wang Chao. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the original result

An Artificial Comet

Original APOD · December 30, 2025 ↗

Read the original APOD for the astronomer’s explanation and full image credits. Its text is preserved in the archive as published.

Read the archived explanation

Yes, but can your comet tail do this? No, and what you are seeing is not the tail of a comet. The picture features a cleverly overlayed time-lapse sequence of a group of satellites orbiting Earth together in June. Specifically, these are Starlink communications satellites in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight before sunrise to Inner Mongolia, China. Although the satellites appear to the human eye as points, the 20-second-long camera exposures caused them to appear as short streaks. Currently there are over 9000 Starlinks in orbit, with more being launched nearly every week. Other satellite constellations are also being planned. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator

Image credit: Wang Chao

Explore December 30 in other years · 31 APOD entries, 1995–2025

Updated · APOD entries through