Showing 1 – 12 of 2972
DSS-43 at CDSCC on a foggy morning (Image credit: @CanberraDSN)

Winter fog

August 14, 2026

Fog forms when the air cools to its dew point, causing water vapour to condense. Canberra frequently experiences heavy winter morning fog due to its altitude (~600 meters above sea […]

Wajarri artist Gail Simpson with her artwork, Look Out, at the South African launch of the Cosmic Echoes exhibition. (Image credit: SKAO)

Cosmic Echoes: a Shared Sky Indigenous Art Exhibition 

August 13, 2026

Cosmic Echoes: a Shared Sky Indigenous Art Exhibition is a celebration of humanity’s ancient cultural wisdom and how it relates to modern science.  A collaboration between SKAO, South African Radio […]

ATNF Colloquium — Daniel Reardon (Swinburne University)

August 12, 2026

The interstellar medium as a foreground signal for Pulsar Timing Arrays  Pulsar bow shock scattering a radio beam. (Credit: Carl Knox, Swinburne/OzGrav) Abstract The ionised interstellar medium (IISM) disperses and […]

Chhetri et al. used ASKAP to make measurements of Inter-Planetary Scintillation (IPS) with 2.5 min observations around the Sun made at a solar elongation of 10 degrees. The 16 observations around the Sun (which is marked with yellow circle) are shown, with the Chhetri et al. paper based on the single observation highlighted by the red square in the plot.

Don’t look at the Sun!

August 11, 2026

Chhetri et al. present a catalogue of 131 compact (angular size less than 0.1 arcseconds) sources detected with ASKAP at 823 MHz via their Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS).  These measurements were made […]

The inner part of the standard image for one ASKAP beam (left), and the corresponding variability image in the same area (right). Compact sources showing a high level of scintillation are identified with green circles. From Chhetri et al. 2026

Compact sources found with ASKAP using IPS

August 10, 2026

Chhetri et al. present a catalogue of 131 compact (angular size less than 0.1 arcseconds) sources detected with ASKAP at 823 MHz via their Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS).  These measurements were […]

An artist's impression of a magnetar -- a rapidly rotating neutron star with an ultra-strong magnetic field --emitting radio waves and X-rays. (Image credit: NASA/Pablo Garcia)

X-ray and radio evidence for vacuum birefringence

August 7, 2026

Stewart et al. published in Nature this week evidence for vacuum birefringence from X-ray and radio observations of polarized emission from the radio magnetar 1E 1547.0-5408.  The phenomenon of vacuum […]

Cover of the July 2026 issue of Contact

Latest issue of Contact

August 6, 2026

The latest issue of Contact, the SKAO magazine, has just been published. The issue opens with a Foreword from new SKA Director General, Jessica Dempsey, written during her visit to […]

A 2.6 GHz MeerKAT image in 2023 of Cir X-1 and its natal SNR, the Africa nebula. Cir X-1 and its precessing jets on parsec scales are seen as radio sources in the centre of the nebula. To the north-west and south-east asymmetric jet inflated bubbles are visible at the edge of the SNR. Image from https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.15400

ATNF Colloquium — Fraser Cowie (Oxford) 

August 5, 2026

Dynamic shocks and precessing jets from an enigmatic accreting neutron star Abstract: Circinus X-1 is an enigmatic accreting neutron star which defies conventional classification despite decades of study. Surrounded by […]

ATNF Colloquium — Igor Andreoni (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

August 4, 2026

The Next Generation of Wide-Field Optical Observatories: Science and Synergies The new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which started the 10-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time on June 29, 2026 […]

A highly commended entry in the Smartphone Astrophotography section of the 2026 David Malin Awards was

David Malin Awards 2026

August 3, 2026

David Malin worked for 26 years at the Anglo-Australian Observatory as photographic scientist and astronomer. Over his career he invented new ways of revealing information on astronomical plates, earning an international […]

A highly commended entry in the Deep Sky category of the 2026 David Malin Awards,

David Malin Awards 2026

July 31, 2026

David Malin worked for 26 years at the Anglo-Australian Observatory as photographic scientist and astronomer. Over his career he invented new ways of revealing information on astronomical plates, earning an […]

At left, the summed X-ray image of the globular cluster 47 Tuc from Chandra, with the large red circle representing the core radius, and the smaller circle a 1 arcsecond circle around W41. At right, the ATCA image showing the core radius and the location of W41. From Maccarone et al. 2026

A new likely pulsar binary in 47 Tucanae from continuum searches

July 30, 2026

Maccarone et al. present evidence that the X-ray source W41 in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, long considered to be an X-ray source powered by coronal activity, is actually a […]

Welcome to the ATNF Daily Astronomy Picture (ADAP), brought to you by staff and users of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF). Our aim is to present science and engineering results, research highlights from recent publications, technical updates, telescope pictures, conference summaries, etc.

Our site was inspired by the fabulous Astronomy Picture of the Day – @APOD and the ASTRON/Jive Daily Image – @dailyimage.

We welcome all ATNF users to submit an image related to our facilities (Parkes, ATCA, Mopra, ASKAP and LBA), together with a brief description and credits. Submissions can be emailed to the ADAP curator, (phil.edwards [at] csiro.au).

The ADAP was created in December 2014 by Baerbel Koribalski and Simon Johnston. Over 2500 ADAPs have now been published. Vince McIntyre, Nathan Pope, and Andrew O’Brien are acknowledged for their dedicated technical support. The ADAP is currently curated by Phil Edwards.