February 11, 2025
Somewhere between the Big Bang and this birthday, the universe learned how to make kindness, curiosity, humor, memory, and hope.
The Spider and the Fly
Birthday · February 11, 2025
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
Free PNG · 1080 × 1350 · No account needed
Image rights and credit requirements apply when sharing or reusing imagery.
Date & occasion only
Change the year
APOD published February 11, 2025. Credit: Dave Boddington. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Will the spider ever catch the fly? Not if both are large emission nebulas toward the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). The spider-shaped gas cloud in the image center is actually an emission nebula labelled IC 417, while the smaller fly-shaped cloud on the left is dubbed NGC 1931 and is both an emission nebula and a reflection nebula. About 10,000 light-years distant, both nebulas harbor young star clusters. For scale, the more compact NGC 1931 (Fly) is about 10 light-years across. The featured deep image, captured over 20 hours during late January in Berkshire UK, also shows more diffuse and red-glowing interstellar gas and dust. Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator
Image credit: Dave Boddington