NASA published a photo from the ISS: the Large Magellanic Cloud above Earth’s limb and atmospheric airglow

NASA published a photo from the ISS: the Large Magellanic Cloud “over” Earth’s limb

NASA’s Earth Observatory on January 1, 2026 published a photograph taken from the International Space Station (ISS) that, alongside the thin blue line of Earth’s horizon, also shows one of the Milky Way’s closest galaxies — the Large Magellanic Cloud. In the image, captured on November 28, 2025, the galaxy appears as a bright, slightly blurred patch against a background of a dense star field, while along the bottom of the frame stretches Earth’s limb with multicolored layers of airglow — yellowish, green, and diffusely red tones.

Although astronauts on the ISS most often photograph Earth, this photo is a reminder of a special advantage of orbiting: above much of the atmosphere, the view of the night sky is significantly clearer, and stars stand out with higher contrast than from the ground. In a single frame, two “levels” of the story meet — our planet with the thin layer of air that makes life possible, and deep space in which, at a distance of about 160,000 light-years, lies a galaxy that has for decades been a natural laboratory for astronomers studying the birth and death of stars.

Key facts about the published photograph

• Publication date: January 1, 2026, in NASA Earth Observatory’s “Image of the Day” section
• Date taken: November 28, 2025, from the International Space Station (ISS)
• Equipment: Nikon Z9, focal length 50 mm; the photo is labeled ISS073-E-1198989
• Main background object: the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way’s closest galaxies
• Visible atmospheric details: Earth’s limb and layers of airglow

What the Large Magellanic Cloud is and why they call it a “next-door” galaxy

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is an irregular dwarf galaxy made up of billions of stars. The European Southern Observatory describes the Magellanic Clouds as typical representatives of irregular dwarf galaxies, whose “messy” structure reflects a complex history of gravitational interactions and intense stellar activity. That is precisely why the LMC often serves as a bridge between “more orderly” spiral galaxies like the Milky Way and smaller, more dynamic systems.

The LMC belongs to the Local Group of galaxies — our galactic neighborhood which, according to astronomical explanations also relayed by NASA, spans a region about 10 million light-years across. In that group are the Milky Way, Andromeda, and the Triangulum Galaxy (Triangulum), as well as dozens of dwarf galaxies, among which the LMC is one of the most conspicuous. Unlike most distant galaxies that are visible without optics only as barely noticeable points, the Large Magellanic Cloud can be spotted with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere, and also from some lower northern latitudes.

For Croatian observers, it is also a reminder of the limits of geographic latitude: from our region the LMC is not a common sight, so orbital photos, as well as images from southern observatories, become an important “window” toward that galaxy. On the other hand, its proximity and bright star fields explain why in astronomical circles it is often called a “next door” galaxy — close enough that individual processes can be tracked within it, yet different enough to offer comparisons with the Milky Way.

How the image was made: Nikon Z9, 50 mm, and the team that looks after astronaut photography

NASA states that the photo labeled ISS073-E-1198989 was taken on November 28, 2025 with a Nikon Z9 digital camera at a focal length of 50 millimeters. The shot was recorded by a crew member of Expedition 73, and was published with support from the ISS Crew Earth Observations Facility and the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

An important part of the story is not only the moment of the shutter release, but also the subsequent processing. According to NASA, the photograph was cropped and enhanced to emphasize contrast, and traces of optical artifacts were also removed. Such a procedure in astrophotography and scientific visualization serves a clearer display of faint light signals: without boosting contrast, airglow and distant objects easily “fall” into darkness.

NASA’s International Space Station program, as stated in the publication, supports the ISS National Lab laboratory and a publicly available image database so that astronauts’ photos are of the greatest possible value to scientists and the public. Additional images can be viewed in NASA/JSC’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, which functions as an archive and a tool for searching by subjects, locations, and imaging conditions.

What we see at the bottom of the frame: Earth’s limb and airglow that is often confused with aurora

In the photo, along the bottom arc you can see Earth’s limb, i.e., the atmosphere observed “from the side,” through a longer light path than when looking down toward the ground. Precisely because of that geometry, atmospheric layers become more visible, and a more pronounced airglow appears — the natural glow of the upper layers of the atmosphere.

Airglow occurs when atoms and molecules at great altitudes absorb energy and then re-emit it as light. Colors in photographs can vary depending on the emission spectrum, instrument, and processing, but in principle they reflect different processes in oxygen and nitrogen. To an observer, it often looks like a quiet, diffuse veil of light. Although in popular descriptions it is sometimes mixed up with aurora, it is a different phenomenon: aurora is tied to impacts of charged particles and geomagnetic conditions, while airglow is present even without such “dramatic” triggers.

It is interesting that the same layers that from the ground can make observing stars harder, from orbit become visual information: the photograph shows not only “what is up there,” but also what the atmosphere looks like as a multilayered, dynamic обол shell around the planet.

Why the LMC is so interesting to astronomers: a star factory on the Milky Way’s doorstep

NASA Earth Observatory describes the LMC as a hotbed of star formation, and a similar emphasis can be found in ESA/Hubble materials, which point out that although the LMC is significantly less massive than the Milky Way, it contains some of the most impressive star-forming regions in the nearby universe. Among the best known is the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus), a vast region of ionized gas and star clusters that astronomers often use for comparison with intense “stellar nurseries” in more distant galaxies.

For researchers, the LMC is especially valuable because it is close enough that individual stars and gas clouds can be resolved in more detail than in most other galaxies, while at the same time it is a separate galactic system with its own chemical history. In practice that means processes of stellar evolution in the LMC can be studied under conditions that are not identical to those in the Milky Way. Differences in chemical composition and gas distribution can affect how clouds cool, how massive stars form, and how quickly new dust is produced.

It is precisely at the level of a “local” galaxy that the broader story of how galaxies grow and change can be tracked. Stellar winds and supernova explosions mix gas and dust, enrich the environment with heavier elements, and at the same time can trigger a new wave of star formation. Because of its proximity, the LMC is a suitable place to observe that cycle in detail, instead of concluding only from averages in distant galaxies.

More wavelengths, more information: Hubble, Spitzer, and a radio view of dust

Although the LMC can be seen without sophisticated equipment, NASA reminds us that space- and ground-based telescopes have delivered extraordinary views of this galaxy across different parts of the spectrum. Hubble’s optical and ultraviolet view highlights young, hot stars and structures of ionized gas, while infrared observations better “pierce” dust and help trace cooler components of the interstellar medium. Spitzer, NASA’s infrared telescope whose archival data are still used in scientific analyses, produced important maps of the thermal emission of dust and helped in understanding where the material from which new stars form is “hiding.”

In that story, dust is not a side effect, but a key component. Cosmic dust — tiny particles of carbon, silicates, and other compounds — participates in cooling gas clouds, influences the formation of stars and planetary systems, and “blocks” and reshapes the light astronomers measure. That is why instruments such as the international ALMA array, which works in the millimeter and submillimeter range, are especially useful: they trace cold dust and gas where optical telescopes see only dark silhouettes or light scattered through interstellar haze.

By combining data from multiple wavelengths, a “layered” picture of the galaxy emerges: optics show where young stars are and where gas glows, infrared reveals what is hidden behind dust, and radio and submillimeter map the coldest material from which new stars are yet to be born.

Supernova 1987A: an explosion that reshaped textbooks for decades

One of the reasons the LMC is often mentioned in scientific news is supernova 1987A. NASA’s Hubble team notes that it was the brightest supernova seen in more than 400 years, and it was discovered on February 23, 1987. According to NASA’s description, the explosion shone for months with a power equivalent to about 100 million Suns, and because of its relative proximity it enabled unique tracking of the transition “from star to supernova to supernova remnant.”

A particularly striking element of that story is the rings of material around the site of the explosion. NASA states that the central ring was illuminated by a wave of energy after the outburst, while over time two fainter outer structures were also observed. Hubble has tracked changes in the ring’s brightness and morphology over the years, recording how the blast shock wave strikes surrounding gas and alters it. Scientifically, it is important that this is a system that can be followed “in real time” on astronomical scales — although changes are slow, over a few decades the evolution can be clearly seen.

NASA also emphasizes the breadth of the observing campaign: along with Hubble, SN 1987A has for years been followed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory and ALMA, so across different energies and wavelengths it is possible to track how the shock spreads, where new dust forms, and how the environment left by the star before the explosion changes.

A dust factory in the supernova remnant: what ALMA measurements and infrared observations showed

One of the key questions in recent years is: how much dust do supernovae actually produce, and can that dust survive the violent conditions after the explosion. NASA states that astronomers, starting in 2012, used ALMA to study how the remnant of supernova 1987A “forges” large amounts of new dust from elements produced in the progenitor star. In official NRAO and ALMA releases, SN 1987A is described as a kind of “dust factory,” with the emphasis on dust forming within the remnant itself, and not only as illumination of pre-existing material in the surroundings.

A similar picture is provided by research based on infrared measurements. UCL’s research page dedicated to dust in supernovae states that, using ESA’s Herschel and other instruments, astronomers detected a very large amount of cold dust in the 1987A region. In a broader sense, this is material that — if dispersed into interstellar space — can become “raw material” for future stars and planets in some other corner of the galaxy.

For science, it is additionally interesting that SN 1987A is often used as an analogy for the early universe. If supernovae are efficient at producing dust, that helps explain how dusty clouds from which new generations of stars and, indirectly, planetary systems form could appear relatively quickly in young galaxies.

New clues in an old story: a neutron star and hints of a black hole in the galaxy’s center

The question of what was left behind after the 1987A explosion remained open for decades. As far back as 2017, NASA emphasized that the formation of a compact object — a neutron star or a black hole — was expected, but direct evidence long remained absent because the remnant’s center was obscured by dust. Reuters reported in February 2024 that scientists, using infrared instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope, found chemical signatures interpreted as the consequence of radiation from a young neutron star. According to that interpretation, ionized atoms in the surroundings require an energy source consistent with the scenario of a newborn neutron star, although details of its nature are still being investigated.

Meanwhile, an interesting piece of news also comes from the broader context of the galaxy itself. Reuters in March 2025 reported research results that point to the existence of a supermassive black hole in the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud, derived from analyses of the trajectories of so-called hypervelocity stars. This conclusion relies on stellar dynamics: the idea is that interactions with a massive object can “eject” stars at high speeds. Although such results require additional confirmation by independent methods, the potential presence of a supermassive black hole in a dwarf galaxy would be an important data point for understanding the evolution of galactic centers.

Those two “new layers” — possible clarification of the remnant of supernova 1987A and a possible massive object at the center of the LMC — show how a nearby galaxy can still be current. In one “neighboring” galaxy, stories converge about stellar life cycles, the formation of chemical elements, and extreme gravitational objects.

What this photograph means for the public: when science and visual experience work together

For a broader audience, photographs like this are often the first contact with concepts such as the Local Group, dwarf galaxies, or stardust. But NASA’s astronaut photography program also has a concrete scientific role: images of Earth taken from the ISS are used in education and outreach, but also as supplementary material in monitoring atmospheric phenomena and night-time light sources. In this case, the added value is that the same frame connects atmosphere, orbit, and deep space into a visually readable narrative.

For astronomers, the Large Magellanic Cloud remains “close, but different” — close enough for details, different enough for comparisons. For ground-based observers, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, it remains a reminder that on clear nights above the horizon you can see something that is not part of the Milky Way. And for those viewing the photo from urban environments and under light pollution, the ISS image offers a rare, almost didactic depiction of what the atmosphere hides and what, despite a distance of 160,000 light-years, can be captured by a camera in an astronaut’s hands.

Sources:

• NASA Earth Observatory – article and photo “The Galaxy Next Door”, with data on the capture date, equipment, and description of the LMC (link)
• NASA/JSC – Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, a platform for viewing astronaut photographs (link)
• ESA/Hubble – materials on the Large Magellanic Cloud as a region of intense star formation (link)
• NASA Science (Hubble Mission Team) – “The Dawn of a New Era for Supernova 1987A”, context and key facts about 1987A (link)
• NRAO/ALMA – “Supernova’s Super Dust Factory Imaged with ALMA”, about dust in the SN 1987A remnant (link)
• UCL (University College London) – overview of research on a large dust reservoir in SN 1987A based on infrared observations (link)
• Reuters – report on indications of a neutron star in the SN 1987A remnant based on James Webb telescope observations (February 22, 2024) (link)
• Reuters – report on a possible supermassive black hole in the center of the LMC based on hypervelocity stars (March 6, 2025) (link)