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 January 10 - The Light, the Dark, and the Dusty
In today's image, we see a star forming region in the constellation of Cepheus. In this area, we see many different types of nebulae including red emission…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 09 - Thor's Helmet
In today's image, we see the nebula known as Thor's Helmet for its distinctive appearance. This is the nebula around a young Wolf-Rayet star. These are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 08 - The Phases of Venus
In today's image, we see multiple images of Venus as taken a few years ago. We can see the cycle of phases that Venus goes through just like our own Moon. The…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 07 - The Cat's Eye Nebula in Optical and X-Ray
In today's image, we see the Cat's Eye Nebula, an example of a planetary nebula observed at both visible and optical wavelengths. A planetary nebula is the end…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 06 - The Snows of Churyumov-Gerasimenko
In today's image, we see a video clip from the Rosetta spacecraft from 2016 showing some snow from close to the surface of the comet. The Rosetta craft gave us…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 05 - Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion
In today's image, we see the central portion of the Orion Nebula, which includes the Trapezium star cluster. The brightest star in this cluster emits mist of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 04 - Zeta Oph: Runaway Star
In today's image, we see the runaway star Zeta Ophiuchi. The star is moving through space at a very fast speed, causing the shock wave seen in the image. It…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 03 - A SAR Arc over New Zealand
In today's image, we see a type of aurora known as a SAR (Stable Red Auroral) arc. The phenomenon has only been studied for the past 70 years or so and is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 02 - Rocket Transits Rippling Moon
In today's image, we see a SpaceX rocket as it is being launched. The timing was perfect so that the rocket passed directly in front of the Moon on its journey…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2024 January 01 - NGC 1232: A Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known by its catalog designation of NGC 1232. This is a grand design spiral galaxy with spiral arms majestically…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 31 - Illustris: A Simulation of the Universe
In today's image, we see Illustris - a simulation of the universe completed in 2014. As we watch the video, we will see the universe as it forms and the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 30 - The Last Full Moon
In today's image, we see the last full moon of 2023 very close to the horizon. The distortions are causes by refraction from different layers of Earth's…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 29 - Shakespeare in Space
In today's image, we see the planet Uranus as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. Uranus is interesting as it orbit the Sun on its side, but also because…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 28 - Jupiter and the Geminid
In today's image, we see Jupiter, the largest of the planets in the solar system off to the right side of the image. In addition, we see one of the Geminid…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 27 - Rainbow Aurora over Icelandic Waterfall
In today's image, we see a multicolored aurora in the sky over a waterfall in Iceland. Above this is the Milky Way - our own galaxy as we see it from within…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 26 - IC 443: The Jellyfish Nebula
In today's image, we see the supernova remnant known as the Jellyfish Nebula. This is an example of a remnant of a Type II supernova which occurs at the end of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 25 - Cathedral, Mountain, Moon
In today's image, we see an alignment of three objects - The Cathedral in front of the distant mountain here on Earth - timed so that the Moon was rising…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 24 - NGC 2440: Cocoon of a New White Dwarf
In today's image, we see a young planetary nebula which is the end state of a star much like our own Sun. The core has collapsed down to an extremely dense…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 23 - A December Summer Night
In today's image, we see an image from a nice summer night in December in New Zealand. Since seasons on Earth are opposite, winter is currently starting in the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 22 - 183 Days in the Sun
In today's image, we see a 183 day exposure of the Sun using a pinhole camera. This shows the position of the Sun over the course of the 6 month period from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 21 - Three Galaxies and a Comet
In today's image, we see three galaxies which are relatively close together in the sky along with a comet passing that same general direction in space. While…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 20 - Ice Halos over Bavaria
In today's image, we see a number of different ice halos and other features around the setting Sun. The features are caused by ice crystals suspended in the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 19 - NGC 1499: The California Nebula
In today's image, we see the California Nebula also known by the catalog designation of NGC 1499. This is an example of an emission nebula where light from a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 18 - The Same Color Illusion
In today's image, we see what is known as the Same Color Illusion. Squares A & B are exactly the same color although it may not look like they are at first…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 17 - Geminids Meteors over China's Nianhu Lake
In today's image, we see many of the Geminid meteors which appear to converge off in the distance toward the constellation of Gemini. These meteors are unusual…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 16 - Crescent Enceladus
In today's image, we see a crescent view of the moon of Saturn, Enceladus as images by the Cassini spacecraft. This moon is surprisingly active for such a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 15 - Betelgeuse Eclipsed
In today's image, we see two images of the constellation Orion side by side. In the left image, we see the red supergiant star, Betelgeuse at its regular…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 14 - Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
In today's image, we see the supernova remnant known as Cassiopeia A. This would have been seen to explode here on Earth about 350 years ago. However, it was…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 13 - Deep Field: The Heart Nebula
In today's image, we see the emission nebula known as the Heart Nebula to the left and below and to the right is the Fish Head nebula. This Heart Nebula is an…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 12 - Aurora and Milky Way over Norway
In today's image, we see a view of the sky from Norway which includes a prominent aurora, our Milky Way galaxy, the Pleiades star cluster, the Andromeda…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 11- Solar Minimum versus Solar Maximum
In today's image, we see a video clip comparing solar activity at minimum (left) and maximum (right). The Sun goes through an 11 year cycle of solar activity…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 10 - Big Dipper over Pyramid Mountain
In today's image, we see the Big Dipper which is an asterism or grouping of bright stars located in the constellation of Ursa Major. The middle five stars in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 09 - Pic du Pleiades
In today's image, we see the Pleiades star cluster, an open star cluster located in the constellation of Taurus. We also see the bright trail of a meteor which…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 08 - Vega and Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks
In today's image, we see the bright star Vega to the upper left, the fifth brightest star in our night sky. To the lower right, we see the comet Pons-Brooks…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 07 - Orion and the Ocean of Storms
In today's image, we see the Orion spacecraft as it flew around our Moon last year in a test of the craft to eventually return humans to the Moon. The large…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 06 - Stars Versus Dust in the Carina Nebula
In today's image, we see a part of the Carina Nebula where stars are forming from dust while already formed stars are eating away at the dust, inhibiting star…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 05 - Energetic Particle Strikes the Earth
In today's image, we see a shower of particles from a single, very high energy nucleus striking Earth's upper atmosphere. While these cosmic rays strike Earth…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 04 - Plane Crossing Crescent Moon
In today's image, we see an image of the waning crescent moon, just a couple of days before new moon. As the image was being taken, a plane flew across the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 03 - Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano
In today's image, we see a video clip which shows the Moon setting behind the rim of a volcano in the Canary Islands. The video will play about 2 minutes as we…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 02 - Startrails over Beijing Ancient Observatory
In today's image, we see an ancient observatory in Beijing including a giant Armillary Sphere which can be used to measure positions of objects in the sky. The…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 December 01 - Milky Way Rising
In today's image, we see the Milky Way above the telescopes of the La Silla observatory in Chile. We are looking in the direction of the center of the galaxy…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 30 - Artemis 1: Flight Day 13
In today's image, we see an image from day 13 of the flight of Artemis 1 from just a little over a year ago. This is when it reached its greatest distance from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 29 - A Landspout Tornado over Kansas
In today's image, we see what is called a landspout - similar to a waterspout but occurring over land. These objects form around the edges of the thunderstorms…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 28 - Ganymede from Juno
In today's image, we see the largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede as imaged by the Juno spacecraft back in 2021. This moon, larger than the planet…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 27 - LBN 86: The Eagle Ray Nebula
In today's image, we see the Eagle Ray Nebula, which bears a resemblance to a ray flying through space. This is an example of a dark nebula or a molecular…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 26 - A Dust Jet from the Surface of Comet 67/P
In today's image, we see a jet of material being emitted from the icy comet known as 67/P. The comet was studied by the Rosetta spacecraft back in 2016 which…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 25 - Little Planet Aurora
In today's image, we see a 360 degree image, condensing the horizon to the little planet in the center of the image. Around that, we see an intense auroral…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 24 - Stereo Jupiter Near Opposition
In today's image, we see two images of the planet Jupiter taken a week ago shortly after Jupiter's opposition. By looking at the center between the two images…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 23 - Along the Taurus Molecular Cloud
In today's image, we see the region around the Taurus molecular cloud, near the bright star Aldebaran in the sky. In this region, we see Herbig-Haro objects…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 22 - IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
In today's image, we see the Hidden Galaxy which is actually hidden because of its location which means we have to look at it through the plane of the Milky…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 21 - Fleming's Triangular Wisp
In today's image, we see a part of the veil supernova remnant. This is what is left behind by a star that was seen to explode from Earth about 5000 years ago…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 20 - The Horsehead Nebula
In today's image, we see Barnard 33, popularly known at the Horsehead nebula for its distinctive shape. This is a dark nebula in the constellation of Orion and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 19 - Space Station, Solar Prominences, Sun
In today's image, we see several different objects, including our own Sun with several solar prominences visible along the limb of the Sun. Transiting across…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 18 - Planet Earth from Orion
In today's image, we see the Orion spacecraft with our Earth in the background. This was a part of the Artemis I mission to travel to our Moon and test the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 17 - Nightlights over Qeqertaq
In today's image, we see a prominent aurora from the recent solar storm that impacted Earth about ten days ago as seen in the sky over Greenland. My podcasts…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 16 - Daytime Moon Meets Morning Star
In today's image, we see an occultation of the planet Venus by our Moon. An occultation occurs when one object passes directly in front of another, blocking…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 15 - M1: The Incredible Expanding Crab
In today's image, we see the Crab Nebula which is the remnant of a star seen to explode from Earth nearly a thousand years ago. We are looking at two images…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 14 - Three Planets Rock
In today's image, we see three of the four brightest objects in the sky in a pattern around rock here on Earth. We have Jupiter to the left, Venus above the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 13 - Andromeda over the Alps
In today's image, we see the Andromeda Galaxy. This is taken with a combination of two images - a shorter exposure of the Alps in the foreground and a much…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2023 November 12 - Gibbous Moon over Swedish Mountain
In today's image, we see the waning gibbous moon (between full moon and third quarter) over the mountains of Sweden. In addition, a plane happened to be…