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 March 10 - A Total Eclipse at the End of the World
In today's image, we see a total eclipse as seen from Antarctica in 2003. A total eclipse occurs when our Moon passes in front of the Sun and blocks out its…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 09 - Comet Pons-Brooks in Northern Spring
In today's image, we see Comet Pons-Brooks which will make its closest approach to our Sun (perihelion) on April 21 of this year. In addition, we can see two…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 08 - The Tarantula Zone
In today's image, we see the Tarantula Nebula also known as 30 Doradus. This is a massive star forming region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 07 - The Crew-8 Nebula
In today's image, we see the separation of the first two stages of a Falcon 9 rocket as it takes astronauts to the International Space Station. The bright spot…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 06 - M102: Edge-on Disk Galaxy
In today's image, we see a spiral galaxy, perhaps much like our own Milky Way. Because of the positioning of the galaxy, we see it edge-on and can view it as a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 05 - NGC 2170: Angel Nebula Abstract Art
In today's image, we see what is known as the Angel Nebula. This star forming region contains several different types of nebulae including the blue reflection…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 04 - Light Pillars Over Inner Mongolia
In today's image, we see light pillars rising up form the ground - caused by a crystal fog of ice/snow close to the ground. In the sky, we see a number of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 03 - A Total Solar Eclipse Close-Up in Real Time
In today's image, we see a video clip showing the total eclipse of the Sun from August of 2017. During totality, we observe around the edge of the Moon and can…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 02 - Odysseus on the Moon
In today's image, we see the Odysseus lander as it makes its first contact with the lunar surface. One landing leg is visible and broken which causes the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 March 01 - Odysseus and the Dish
In today's image, we see the Parkes Radio Telescope dish in Australia. We note that it is pointed in the direction of our Moon, allowing us to receive faint…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 29 - Julius Caesar and Leap Days
In today's image, we see an old Roman coin showing the image of Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar was responsible for helping to incorporate the leap day into the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 28 - Shades of Night
In today's image, we see a set of images taken shortly after sunset. We are looking in the direction opposite to the setting Sun. We see the various shades the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 27 - Supernova Remnant Simeis 147
In today's image, we see the supernova remnant known as Simeis 147 and also known sometimes as the Spaghetti Nebula. A remnant like this is left behind when a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 26 - Martian Moon Eclipses Martian Moon
In today's image, we see the two moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos as one passes in front of the other causing an eclipse. An eclipse can occur anywhere where…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 25 - A Phoenix Aurora over Iceland
In today's image, we see an aurora which may resemble the shape of a phoenix rising up over the horizon. The patterns are random, but our minds try to put some…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 24 - Odysseus to the Moon
In today's image, we see an image of a portion of the Moon taken a couple of days ago by the Odysseus craft shortly before it landed near the lunar South Pole…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 23 - The Pencil Nebula Supernova Shock Wave
In today's image, we see what is known as the Pencil Nebula. This is a portion of the Veil Supernova remnant, the material left behind by a star seen so…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 22 - A View Toward M106
In today's image, we see galaxies in the direction of the handle of the Big Dipper. This includes the spiral galaxy known as M106 which we see to the left side…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 21 - Seagull Nebula over Pinnacles' Peak
In today's image, we see the Seagull Nebula. This is an example of an emission nebula showing the red glow of hydrogen gas which is caused by nearby stars…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 20 - AM1054: Stars Form as Galaxies Collide
In today's image, we see galaxies in the process of collision. When galaxies collide, the stars pass right by one another while the larger gas clouds will…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 19 - Looking Sideways from the Parker Solar Probe
In today's image, we see a video clip showing 11 days of images from the Parker Solar Probe. This craft, currently in orbit around the Sun, passes closer to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 18 - Hoag's Object: A Nearly Perfect Ring Galaxy
In today's image, we see an example of a ring galaxy. We see two distinct parts of the galaxy which appear to be separated by a gap. The underlying cause as to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 17 - Meteor over the Bay of Naples
In today's image, we see a meteor that happened to occur at the time of the photograph. This is a small bit of material - a dust grain - that is being…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 16 - Structure in the Tail of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks
In today's image, we see the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks. The comet is currently heading to the inner solar system and will reach its closest approach to the Sun on…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 15 - NGC 253: Dusty Island Universe
In today's image, we see an example of a spiral galaxy. We can see many of the distinct features of star formation here including the dark dusty regions, the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 14 - Rosette Deep Field
In today's image, we see the region around the Rosette Nebula. This is a region of star formation and we see the red glow caused by the excitation of hydrogen…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 13 - A January Wolf Moon
In today's image, we see the full moon from this past month. The January full moon is often called the Wolf Moon. One full moon generally occurs each month -…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 12 - HFG1 & Abell 6: Planetary Nebulae
In today's image, we see two examples of planetary nebulae in the direction of the constellation of Cassiopeia. A planetary nebula is the end state of a star…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 11 - Rocket Plume Shadow Points to the Moon
In today's image, we see the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis from 2001. We note how the exhaust behind the shuttle changes color. From the lower portion…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 10 - The Shadow of Ingenuity's Damaged Rotor Blade
In today's image, we see part of the Martian surface as imaged from the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars. This is the result of the 72nd and final mission of the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 09 - When Roses Aren't Red
In today's image, we see the Rosette Nebula. This is an example of an emission nebula that would normally glow red because of the emission of hydrogen gas…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 08 - Globular Star Cluster 47 Tuc
In today's image, we see one of the brightest globular star clusters in our galaxy, known as 47 Tuc. Globular star clusters are some of the oldest parts of our…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 07 - The Heart Shaped Antennae Galaxies
In today's image, we see two galaxies in the process of colliding and merging together. Because of the great sizes and distances involved, the entire process…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 06 - NGC 1566: A Spiral Galaxy from Webb and Hubble
In today's image, we see two views of a spiral galaxy from two different telescopes. We see the Hubble image in ultraviolet light and the James Webb Space…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 05 - In the Core of the Carina Nebula
In today's image, we see the central portions of the Carina Nebula. This includes the star Eta Carinae which was one of the brightest stars in the sky a couple…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 04 - The Cone Nebula from Hubble
In today's image, we see an image of the Cone Nebula. This is a region of star formation where this cone is a remaining dense area where stars continue to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 03 - Apollo 14: A View from Antares
In today's image, we see an image taken by the astronauts from the Apollo 14 mission from February of 1971. This was toward the end of the mission as they were…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 02 - NGC 1893 and the Tadpoles of IC 410
In today's image, we see the star forming region known as NGC 1893. The "tadpoles" are regions where stars are currently trying to form. However, energy from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 February 01 - NGC 1365: Majestic Island Universe
In today's image, we see the barred spiral galaxy known by its catalog designation of NGC 1365. The "island universe" is another galaxy, similar to our own…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 31 - Camera Orion Rising
In today's image, we see the area around the constellation of Orion in the sky. This image, taken with just a camera, When an extended exposure like this is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 30 - SLIM Lands on the Moon
In today's image, we see the SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) craft which recently dropped off two small roves on the Moon for future exploration…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 29 - The Pleiades: Seven Dusty Sisters
In today's image, we see the Pleiades Star Cluster. This is a prominent star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus. Currently, a dust cloud is passing…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 28 - Pluto in True Color
In today's image, we see the dwarf planet Pluto as imaged by the New Horizons spacecraft back in 2015. The image has been processed to reveal what Pluto would…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 27 - Full Observatory Moon
In today's image, we see the full moon rising beyond the telescopes in the mountains of Chile is the Las Campanas observatory. The full moon in January is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 26 - Epsilon Tauri: Star with Planet
In today's image, we see the star known as Epsilon Tauri. This relatively nearby star is known to have a planet orbiting it which is larger than Jupiter. The…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 25 - Jyväskylä in the Sky
In today's image, we see the sky above the city of Jyväskylä in Finland. The Pilars of light in the sky that are seen here are from street lights in the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 24 - Earth and Moon from Beyond
In today's image, we see our Earth and Moon as images from the Artemis I mission from 2022. This was a craft sent out beyond the Moon and then returned to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 23 - Deep Nebulas: From Seagull to California
In today's image, we see a part of the sky near the constellations of Orion and Taurus. This deep image, incorporating over 800 hours' worth of exposure allows…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 22 - Shadows of Mountain and Moon
In today's image, we see the first quarter moon above a mountain. Here we can see the similar shadows of both objects. We note that the right side is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 21 - The Upper Michigan Blizzard of 1938
In today's image, we see massive snow drifts from a storm that struck Michigan's Upper Peninsula 86 years ago this week. This is not the overall level of snow…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 20 - Falcon Heavy Boostback Burn
In today's image, we see the boost back burn of the side boosters of a Falcon Heavy rocket as they returned to Earth on December 28 of last year. The boosters…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 19 - Jupiter over 2 Hours and 30 Minutes
In today's image, we see a number of images taken over the timespan of 2 hours and 30 minutes. This is about one quarter of a day on Jupiter which rotates in a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 18 - Northern Lights from the Stratosphere
In today's image, we see an image of the aurora or norther lights as seen from an airplane. The red and green colors are both caused by the excitation of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 17 - America and the Sea of Serenity
In today's image, we see the command module from the Apollo 17 mission from December of 1972 against the background of our Moon. The was the final mission to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 16 - The Orion You Can Almost See
In today's image, we see a deep image of the region around Orion. The prominent stars in Orion are there, but not as prominent as we are used to because of all…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 15 - Star Cluster IC 348 from Webb
In today's image, we see the star cluster known by its catalog designation of IC 348. Many young clusters like this are hidden by dust and not well studied in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 14 - Dragon Aurora over Iceland
In today's image, we see an aurora over Iceland which may be seen to resemble a dragon in the sky. The aurora are caused by charged particles from our Sun…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 13 - Circling the Sun
In today's image, we see a circle around the Sun in the form of a 22 degrees halo caused by ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere. The planet Earth also circles…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 12 - Good Morning Moon
In today's image, we see the thin crescent moon in the morning sky. This was the last day before the moon reached the new phases and started its cycle of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 11 - Quadrantids of the North
In today's image, we see a number of meteors from the Quadrantid meteor shower. A meteor shower is named from the constellation from which the meteors appear…