Shows / NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
These podcasts are my discussion of NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day. These are brief (3-5 minute) audio summaries of the picture posted on NASA's Picture of the Day website: APOD. Video versions of these are available on YouTube. I use these as the introduction to each of my introductory astronomy classes. Students will be able to access them here to review what was discussed in class. I appreciate any comments or suggestions which can be sent to: wagnerastronomy@gmail.com.
Episodes
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 September 06 - Ringed Ice Giant Neptune
In today's image, we see the planet Neptune as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. This is the first imaging of the rings of Neptune since the Voyager 2…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 September 05 - NGC 247 and Friends
In today's image, we see the nearby spiral galaxy known as NGC 247. In addition, there are many other galaxies in the image, including four in a straight line…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 September 04 - NGC 6995: The Bat Nebula
In today's image, we see a portion of the Veil Supernova remnant known as the Bat Nebula. This is some of the debris left behind by a star which exploded long…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 September 03 - Quarter Moon and Sister Stars
In today's image, we see the third quarter moon toward the bottom of the image and the Pleiades star cluster to the right. My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 September 02 - A Triangular Prominence Hovers Over the Sun
In today's image, we see a recent prominence in the shape of a triangle which was observed to be hovering over the surface of our Sun. My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 September 01 - The Moon Dressed as Saturn
In today's image, we see our moon as a thin, waning crescent. A thin cloud in Earth's atmosphere happens to be passing in front of our Moon, giving it a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 31 - IFN and the NGC 7771 Group
In today's image, we see the Galaxy group containing the spiral galaxy known as NGC 7771. The two larger spiral galaxies here are interacting and will…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 30 - Southern Moonscape
In today's image, we see the region around the South Pole of our Moon. The region is very heavily cratered. We can see a number of older craters which are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 29 - Star Factory Messier 17
In today's image, we see the star forming region known as Messier 17. This is essentially a factory where stars are being created from the gas and dust in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 28 - Tulip Nebula and Black Hole Cygnus X-1
In today's image, we see the Tulip Nebula, an emission nebula located in the constellation of Cygnus. Also in the image is the black hole known as Cygnus X-1…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 27 - Moon Eclipses Saturn
In today's image, we see our moon passing in front of Saturn in what is called an occultation or eclipse. Because of the positioning, this will occur every…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 26 - Perseid Meteors Over Inner Mongolia
In today's image, we see a video clip showing a number of the Perseid meteors from the shower in 2023. The meteors are small bits of a comet, left behind in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 25 - Fresh Tiger Stripes on Saturn's Enceladus
In today's image, we see one of Saturn's moons, Enceladus. This moon as relatively fresh and recently formed features known as tiger stripes showing that the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 24 - South Pacific Shadowset
In today's image, we see the shadow cast by Earth setting opposite to the rising Sun which would be behind the observer here. The full moon, visible here…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 23 - Supernova Remnant CTA 1
In today's image, we see the remnant of a star that would have been observed to explode on Earth around 10,000 years ago. The material from the star has been…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 22 - The Dark Tower in Scorpius
In today's image, we see cometary globule in the constellation of Scorpius. In this region, we see dark nebula, reflection nebulae, and emission nebulae. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 21 - Fermi's 12-Year All-Sky Gamma-Ray Map
In today's image, we see a map of the entire sky as imaged in Gamma rays by the Fermi Space Telescope. The red line across the middle is our own Milky Way and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 20 - Supermoon Beyond the Temple of Poseidon
In today's image, we see the supermoon rising out in the distance beyond the Temple of Poseidon. This is also a blue moon which is the third of four full moons…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 19 - IC 5146: The Cocoon Nebula
In today's image, we see the star forming region known as the Cocoon Nebula. In the central region here, new stars are in the process of formation. Their…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 18 - A Solar Prominence Eruption from SDO
In today's image, we see a timelapse video showing the eruption of a solar prominence on the surface of the Sun back in 2011.My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 17 - Sky Full of Arcs
In today's image, we see images of star trails caused by the Earth's rotation on its axis. In addition, we see the launch of a rocket and the trail left behind…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 16 - Meteor Borealis
In today's image, we see an image showing the Big Dipper as well as one of the Perseid meteors from a few days ago. In addition, we see the aurora which…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 15 - Late Night Vallentuna
In today's image, we see the sky over Sweden which shows one of the Perseid meteors as well as the Pleiades star cluster and the aurora from a recent solar…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 14 - Meteors and Aurora over Germany
In today's image, we see several Perseid meteors from the show this past weekend as well as the aurora from a recent outburst on the surface of the Sun. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 13 - Giant Jet from the International Space Station
In today's image, we see an example of Giant Jet lightning as imaged from the International Space Station last month. This is a recently discovered form of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 12 - Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge
In today's image, we see a number of Perseid meteors as well as our Milky Way Galaxy in the sky over Stonehenge. My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 11 - Animation: Perseid Meteor Shower
In today's image, we see an animation showing the orbit of comet Swift-Tuttle which is the comet responsible for the Perseid Meteor shower that occurs every…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 10 - The Light, Dark, and Dusty Trifid
In today's image, we see the Trifid Nebula, also known as M20. In this nebula, we see three different types of nebula: Emission nebulae, Reflection nebulae…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 09 - A Perseid Below
In today's image, we see a meteor in the sky below the International Space station in this image taken back in 2011. The next Perseid meteor shower will be…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 08 - Periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle
In today's image, we see the comet known as Swift-Tuttle. It is a periodic comet which means it returns to the inner solar system at regular intervals. In this…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 07 - Milky Way Behind Three Merlons
In today's image, we see our Milky Way galaxy in the sky behind three ancient rock structures. The structures were formed hundreds of millions of years ago as…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 06 - Storm Cloud over Texas
In today's image, we see a storm cloud as seen over Texas in 2021. The structure of the cloud is caused by Earth's atmosphere and the different temperatures…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 05 - Milky Way over Tunisia
In today's image, we see the Milky Way and a meteor in the sky over Tunisia. The meteor is a part of last year's Perseid meteor shower. This year's Perseids…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 04 - Gaia: Here Comes the Sun
In today's image, we see a rendering of our galaxy. We will move through the galaxy, using positions and distances determined by the Gaia satellite which helps…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 03 - Glory and the Fog Bow
In today's image, we see the Glory at the center, the rainbow pattern around the shadow of the person in the image. In addition, we see the Fog Bow, similar to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 02 - Mars Passing By
In today's image, we see the planet Mars images over 16 days as it moved across the sky. In the image, we also see the planet Uranus and the Pleiades star…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 August 01 - Comet Olbers over Kunetice Castle
In today's image, we see Comet Olbers in the sky. This comet reached its closest approach to the Sun on June 30 and it no heading back to the outer reaches of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 31 - Leopard Spots on Martian Rocks
In today's image, we see spots which have recently been discovered on rocks on Mars. The origin of these spots is being investigated, but it is possible that…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 30 - Arp 142: Interacting Galaxies from Webb
In today's image, we see galaxies interacting. There are two separate images here - A Hubble Space Telescope image in visible light and a James Webb Space…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 29 - Milky Way over Uluru
In today's image, we see our Milky Way galaxy as seen over an Australian rock structure known as Uluru. In the image, several emission nebulae and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 28 - Sun Dance
In today's image, we see a video clip showing a prominence along the limb of the Sun. The plasma of the Sun will follow along the magnetic field lines of the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 27 - Saturn at the Moon's Edge
In today's image, we see Saturn very close to the limb of the Moon. When two objects appear close together in the sky, it is called a conjunction. From parts…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 26 - Facing NGC 6946
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy, NGC 6946. From our perspective, this galaxy is seen face-on allowing us a direct view of its spiral arms and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 25 - NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
In today's image, we see the Iris Nebula. This is an example of a reflection nebula which light from a hot star is scattered off of dust grains around the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 24 - Exaggerated Moon
In today's image, we see our Moon in a greatly exaggerated image. The heights have been stretched out to all ow for differences to be more easily seen. We also…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 23 - The Crab Nebula from Visible to X-Ray
In today's image, we see the Crab Nebula as images in both visible light and x-rays. The visible light gives us an overall view of the nebula while the x-rays…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 22 - Chamaelon Dark Nebulas
In today's image, we see dark nebulae in the constellation of the Chameleon. The dust that makes up these nebula is formed in the outer atmospheres of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 21 - King of Wings Hoodoo under the Milky Way
In today's image, we see the King of Wings Hoodoo which is a rock formation where the softer rock below has been worn away, leaving the harder rock hanging out…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 20 - Apollo 11 Landing Panorama
In today's image, we see a panoramic image put together from some of the original images taken be Neil Armstrong when Apollo 11 first landed on the Moon 55…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 19 - Anticrepuscular Rays at the Planet Festival
In today's image, we see the Planet Festival on Earth in the foreground. In the sky, we see anti crepuscular rays heading off in to the distance, seeming to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 18 - Messier 24: Sagittarius Star Cloud
In today's image, we see a star cloud in the direction of the constellation of Sagittarius. This is a gap in the dust in this part of the galaxy, allowing us a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 - July 17 - Villarrica Volcano Against the Sky
In today's image, we see the Villarrica volcano in Chile as it erupts. Earth is one of the few objects with active volcanoes like this. The other active object…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 16 - Cometary Globules
In today's image, we see what are known as cometary globules. While these have nothing to do with comets, they do bear a resemblance to the comets we find in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 15 - The Tadpole Galaxy from Hubble
In today's image, we see the galaxy known as the Tadpole Galaxy for the long tail stretching away from it. The tail is caused by a previous interaction with…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 14 - Meteor Misses Galaxy
In today's image, we see the Triangulum Galaxy, also known as M33 which is one of the three large spiral galaxies in our local group. We also see a meteor that…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 13 - Solar System Family Portrait
In today's image, we see a portrait of the solar system showing 6 of the 8 plates in our solar system with Mercury and Mars not being visible because of their…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 12 - Jones-Emberson 1
In today's image, we see a planetary nebula which is the end state of a star much like our own Sun. At the end of the life of the star, the core compacts down…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 11 - Globular Star Cluster Omega Centauri
In today's image, we see the globular star cluster known as Omega Centauri. This may actually be the remnant core of a galaxy whose outer laters were stripped…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 10 - A Sagittarius Triplet
In today's image, we see several nebulae in the constellation of Sagittarius. These include the Triffid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula. This is a region of star…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 July 09 - Noctilucent Clouds over Florida
In today's image, we see noctilucent or night shining clouds. These are clouds that are high enough in Earth's atmosphere that they can be seen illuminated by…