The image captures the glowing ribbon of the galactic plane, where the vast majority of the Milky Way's stars are concentrated.

An awestruck Elon Musk reacted to NASA’s latest image drop on social media, captioned “ Sky full of stars .” The agency noted, “ Following a successful lunar flyby, the Artemis II astronauts captured this breathtaking photo of our galaxy, the Milky Way, on April 7, 2026.”

Elon Musk reacted to NASA’s stunning Milky Way image captured by the Artemis II crew after a historic lunar flyby. Resharing the post, Musk wrote, “One day, we will be out there,” as the mission marks a major step toward future human exploration of deep space.

The Artemis II crew released a stunning image of the Milky Way, showcasing dense starfields and the Homunculus Nebula. The mission also captured rare lunar views, offering an extraordinary glimpse into deep space.

Over seven hours, the astronauts took thousands of photos that will help inform scientists’ understanding of the moon. The first ones have now been released.

The center of the Milky Way, which is referred to as "the core," is best visible beginning in June across the Northern Hemisphere, when it's "visible as a faint band of hazy light arching across the sky all night, according to NASA scientist Preston Dyches.

Astronomers working with data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope have identified 87 stellar stream candidates winding through the outer reaches of the Milky Way, roughly quadrupling the number of such structures previously known.

NASA's Parker Solar Probe has flown into the Sun's corona. Structures known as coronal streamers and the Milky Way can be seen in the footage it captured. Credit: Space.com | NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Na