The cosmos wears a galactic sombrero | Space photo of the day for April 29, 2026

(Image credit: NASA/Jessica Meir)NASA astronaut Jessica Meir snapped a striking photo of a river snaking through the Amazon rainforest from space.What is it? The Ucayali River in central Peru was captured in a new image by Meir while aboard the International Space Station.The Ucayali, a lower extension of the Apurímac River, is thought to be one of the main sources of the Amazon River. More than 1,600 miles (2,700 kilometers) long, the Ucayali is home to a diverse indigenous population and an amazing variety of plants and animals.Article continues below Pink dolphins swim through this river which is home to wildlife ranging from manatees to taricaya turtles, jaguars, giant river otters, catfish and a variety of monkeys, reptiles and birds.Meir snapped this photo from the space station, which she reached via Crew-12, a SpaceX mission that launched this past February. The four Crew-12 astronauts were welcomed to the station by the Expedition 74 crew and will continue to conduct research throughout the duration of their roughly eight-month stay.Why is it incredible? For all of its natural splendor and incredible biodiversity, this river, the surrounding region, and the people living there continue to be impacted by illegal logging and commercial fishing. And this area is no stranger to exploitation; it was a hot spot during the rubber boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.The photo by Meir is visually stunning. It shows the river like a swirling ribbon across Earth's face. But it also reminds us of the incredible power of being able to see Earth from space.This vantage point is more than aesthetics, and photographs like this as well as satellite imagery of Earth help us to better understand the progress of things like deforestation and climate change.

Chelsea Gohd served as a Senior Writer for Space.com from 2018 to 2022 before returning in 2026, covering everything from climate change to planetary science and human spaceflight in both articles and on-camera in videos. With a M.S. in Biology, Chelsea has written and worked for institutions including NASA JPL, the American Museum of Natural History, Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine, and Live Science. When not writing, editing or filming something space-y, Gohd is writing music and performing as Foxanne, even launching a song to space in 2021 with Inspiration4. You can follow her online @chelsea.gohd and @foxanne.music

Messier 104, or the Sombrero galaxy. (Image credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURAImage Processing: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage/NSF NOIRLab), D. de Martin & M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLab))The Sombrero galaxy looks like a work of science fiction in a stunning new image showcasing its hat-shaped appearance in stunning detail.What is it? Messier 104, nicknamed the Sombrero galaxy, is a spiral galaxy located about 28 million light-years from Earth.At an apparent magnitude of +8, it's too dim to see with the naked eye. However, binoculars or a small telescope will reveal its distinctive, wide, sombrero shape, making it a favorite target for skywatchers.Article continues below If you're looking for Messier 104 in the night sky, you can find it in the constellation Virgo.This image of the far-off galaxy was captured using the Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Victor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. The observatory is part of the National Science Foundations' NOIRLab (formally the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory), the U.S. center for ground-based nighttime optical astronomy.Why is it incredible? It's no secret how the Sombrero galaxy got its nickname. With a very distinctive, wide and flat shape and it really does look like a cosmic sombrero.The name itself has no scientific meaning — it's simply a reflection of a very human habit of finding familiar shapes in the unfamiliar.The Sombrero galaxy holds nearly 2,000 globular star clusters, nearly 10 times more than the number in our own Milky Way. But in looking at this galaxy like a big, cosmic hat, it becomes somehow more relatable. Humans have been doing this with galaxies, stars, constellations, and even cloud shapes for as long as we have existed, and it brings the cosmos close.

Chelsea Gohd served as a Senior Writer for Space.com from 2018 to 2022 before returning in 2026, covering everything from climate change to planetary science and human spaceflight in both articles and on-camera in videos. With a M.S. in Biology, Chelsea has written and worked for institutions including NASA JPL, the American Museum of Natural History, Scientific American, Discover Magazine Blog, Astronomy Magazine, and Live Science. When not writing, editing or filming something space-y, Gohd is writing music and performing as Foxanne, even launching a song to space in 2021 with Inspiration4. You can follow her online @chelsea.gohd and @foxanne.music

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