The Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) image for 2 November 2026 shows a long cloud on Mars, captured in the sky of the red planet. APOD is a daily project run by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute that publishes a different image of the universe each day, accompanied by a short explanation written by a professional astronomer.

Water-ice and carbon-dioxide clouds are a common feature of the Martian atmosphere, where they form at high altitudes and can stretch for hundreds of kilometres, producing elongated structures like the one seen in the image. Studying them helps track the circulation of the Martian atmosphere and the distribution of water vapour across different seasons of the Martian year.

APOD selects a different astronomical photograph or image every day, drawn from both professional observatories and amateur astronomers, and pairs it with a popular-level explanation. The project's archive, available on its website, gathers the images published since 1995 and is a regular reference for astronomy outreach.