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. 2026 April 27 [2]A night sky filled with lines and dashed-lines appears above a hilly landscape featuring a distant lit-up tower. Near the center of the image is a comet shown by its small green coma and ion tail to the upper right. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Comet R3 PanSTARRS Behind Satellite Trails Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Uli Fehr Explanation: Can you find the comet? Somewhere through this web of satellite trails is Comet [4]C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS), a bright visitor passing through the inner [5]Solar System. Now, the [6]orbiting satellites themselves only [7]appear as streaks because of the long camera exposure, over 10 minutes in this case. On the contrary, [8]to the eye, satellites appear as points that drift slowly across the night sky and shine by [9]reflecting sunlight -- primarily just after sunset and before sunrise. The featured image was taken just before sunrise two weeks ago from [10]Bavaria, [11]Germany. Presently, [12]Comet R3 PanSTARRS is hard to see for even another reason -- because it is so (angularly) close to the [13]Sun. As the comet rounds the Sun, it will be [14]best seen in coming weeks from [15]southern hemispheree skies, although then it will be heading out to interstellar space and fading. If you haven't yet found the comet, [16]don't despair; please take a [17]closer look just above the image center. Tomorrow's picture: cometary mountains __________________________________________________________________ [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/2604/CometTrails_Fehr_2756.jpg 3. https://www.instagram.com/fehrpics/ 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/2025_R3_(PanSTARRS) 5. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/solar-system-facts/ 6. https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/leo-economy-frequently-asked-questions/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191014.html 8. https://www.healthline.com/health/human-eye-fps 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230107.html 10. https://youtu.be/HvG5igQX2H4 11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany 12. https://theskylive.com/c2025r3-info 13. https://science.nasa.gov/sun/ 14. https://www.universetoday.com/articles/comet-r3-panstarrs-at-perihelion 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Hemisphere 16. https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https://preview.redd.it/my-cat-likes-to-stare-at-me-does-your-cat-do-this-v0-0uac0htb2xkc1.jpg?width=1080&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=bc1fb9a7aa48d5a3a8a1c13611953db2691b8f9b 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2604/CometTrails_Fehr_2756.jpg 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260426.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=260427 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260428.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/