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
2026 June 29 - M82: Galaxy with a Supergalactic Wind
In today's image, we see the galaxy known as M82 or the cigar galaxy. The red and orange color is gas and dust being push out by a super wind created by the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 28 - AR4478: Giant Sunspot Group
In today's image, we see a large sunspot group that is currently moving across the face of the Sun. Large groups like this can affect Earth through things like…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 27 - Mars Marathon by Perseverance
In today's image, we see an image from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter taken one day before Perseverance completed its marathon on the surface of Mars, taking…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 26 - Milky Way Urban Style
In today's image, we see the Milky Way images over Seoul, South Korea using an infrared filter to minimize the light pollution.My podcasts are available in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 25 - Anticrepuscular Rays over Sicily
In today's image, we see anticrepuscular rays in the sky. The Sun will have just set behind the photographer as the image was taken. Sunlight passes through…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 24 - SDO Observes a Coronal Mass Ejection
In today's image, we see timelapse video from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). The shows the eruption of a coronal mass ejection from the surface of our…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 23 - Flying Past Neptune's Moon Triton
In today's image, we see a video put together from images taken by the Voyager 2 spacecraft during its flyby back in 1989. My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 22 - M27: The Dumbbell Nebula
In today's image, we see M27 also known as the Dumbbell Nebula. The is an example of planetary nebula - what our Sun will become in about six billion years. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 21 - Keogram: The Sky in 2025
In today's image, we see a keogram - an image put together from multiple all sky images taken every 15 seconds for an entire year. We can easily see daylight…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 20 - Daytime Moon Meets Evening Star
In today's image, we see the planet Venus very close to the limb of the Moon. The was taken just at the end of an occultation of Venus by the Moon a few days…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 19 - Starry Night II
In today's image, we see a photographic recreation of Vincent Van Gogh's famous Starry Night painting. The image was taken in Brazil in April of this year. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 18 - Possible Supernova Remnant in Galactic Center
In today's image, we see a possible supernova remnant near the center of our galaxy - perhaps one of the closest known supernovae to the center of our galaxy…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 17 - Longmore 8: The Hamster Wheel Nebula
In today's image, we see the planetary nebula now as Longmore 8 or the Hamster Wheel Nebula. The red color is for hydrogen has while the blue color is from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 16 - Moons, Rings, Shadows, Clouds: Saturn (Cassini)
In today's image, we see an image from the Cassini spacecraft from 2005 showing Saturn and its ring system as well as several of its moons. My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 15 - Triple Shockwave from Sun Crossing Rocket
In today's image, we see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it passes directly in front of the Sun. We can see the exhaust trail behind the rocket and the shock waves…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 14 - 10 Days of Venus and Jupiter
In today's image, we see four panels showing Venus and Jupiter in the sky earlier this year as they approached one another in the sky, resulting in a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 13 - Interplanetary Earth
In today's image, we see Earth as imaged from spacecraft orbiting two other planets in 2013. It was images from Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft and from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 12 - Venus and Jupiter: Conjunction from Avebury
In today's image, we see the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter in the sky as seen from the sone circle at Avebury.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 11 - The Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant
In today's image, we see what is known as the Mermaid Nebula Supernova Remnant. This is an example of a massive star that exploded about 10,000 years ago. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 10 - The Eagle Nebula and Friends
In today's image, we see the region around M16, also known as the Eagle Nebula. This is a well-known star forming region in our galaxy.My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 09 - Thor's Helmet
In today's image, we see the nebula known as Thor's Helmet. This is the nebula around a hot, massive star known as a Wolf-Rayet star. This is the type of star…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 08 - Comet R3 PanSTARRS Through Time
In today's image, we see comet R3 PanSTARRS which was visible earlier this year. we have multiple images of the comet from early - mid May as we can see the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 07 - Jupiter and Venus from Earth
In today's image, we see the conjunction of Jupiter and Venus as seen from Earth back in 2012. Another conjunction will occur in a couple of days, with the two…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 06 - Charon: Moon of Pluto
In today's image, we see Charon the largest moon of Pluto as imaged by the New Horizons spacecraft back in 2015. Charon is the largest moon in the solar system…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 05 - The Hydra Cluster of Galaxies
In today's image, we see a cluster of galaxies in the constellation of Hydra. Galaxies tend to group into clusters which thing group into superclusters and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 04 - A Planetary Nebula with Cosmic Buckyballs
In today's image, we see the planetary nebula Tc 1 which is known to have buckyballs in a thin shell around the central star.My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 03 - Andromeda Through Gas and Dust
In today's image, we see the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) in an exposes of over 200 hours. This allows us to see a lot of the foreground gas withoin our Milky Way…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 02 - The Vela Supernova Remnant
In today's image, we see the remnant of a star that would have been seen to explode her on Earth 12,000 years ago. At the center would be a pulsar - a rapidly…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 June 01 - Saturn at Night
In today's image, we see Saturn as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft back in 2017 just a couple of days before it plunged into Saturn's atmosphere.My podcasts…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 31 - Eagle Nebula Pillars in Infrared from Hubble
In today's image, we see an infrared version of the Pillars of Creation image from Hubble. This is part of a start forming region and looking in the infrared…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 30 - Supermoon Versus Micromoon
In today's image, we see images of the Supermoon and the Micromoon. Today's full moon will be a micro moon which is the full moon that occurs when the Moon it…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 29 - Messier 104
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as Messier 104. This is also known as the Sombrero Galaxy. This deep exposure shows its extended halo and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 28 - NGC 1514: The Crystal Ball Nebula
In today's image, we see the planetary nebula known as NGC 1514 or the Crystal Ball Nebula. The star at the center is actually a binary star with two stars…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 27 - PK 164 +31.1: The Headphone Nebula
In today's image, we see the planetary nebula known as the Headphone Nebula. This type of nebula is the end state of a star much like our own Sun. My podcasts…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 26 - NGC 3660 and Burçin's Galaxy
In today's image, we see a pair of galaxies. A barred spiral above and Burçin's Galaxy below. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 25 - Thacheray's Globules
In today's image, we see what are known as Thackeray's Globules. Globules of material in a star forming region which are some of the final bits of material to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 24 - A Martian Eclipse: Phobos Crosses the Sun
In today's image, we see a real-time video showing Phobos passing in front of the Sun as imaged by the Perseverance Rover in 2022.My podcasts are available in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 23 - Messier 2
In today's image, we see Messier 2 - A globular cluster that dates back to the early history of our galaxy and our universe, about 13 billion years old. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 22 - The Nebulous Realm of WR 134
In today's image, we see the region around WR 134 which is an example of a Wolf-Rayet star - a hot young star that will eventually end its life in a supernova…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 21 - A Collision of Galaxy Clusters
In today's image, we see galaxy clusters colliding. We can especially see this in the x-ray overlay which shows the spiral of swirling gas from the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 20 - The Dark Wolf Nebula
In today's image, we see the Dark Wolf Nebula. This is a dark nebula located in the constellation of Scorpius. My podcasts are available in video form through…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 19 - NGC 2170: The Angel Nebula
In today's image, we see the nebula known as the Angle Nebula. There are three different types of nebulae located here: blue reflection nebulae, red emission…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 18 - Unraveling NGC 3169
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy NGC 3169 as it is appearing to be unraveled by its neighbor galaxy which which it is interacting gravitationally. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 17 - NGC 1300: Barred Spiral Galaxy
In today's image, we see the barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 1300 as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope. My podcasts are available in video form through…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 16 - Aurora Slathers Up the Sky
In today's image, we see the aurora as viewed from above from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 15 - R3 PanStarrs: An Orion Comet
In today's image, we see the comet R3 PanSTARRS as it continues moving through Orion in its journey south as it heads back out of our solar system. My podcasts…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 14 - Messier Catalog at Uniform Scale
In today's image, we see the Messier Catalog - objects cataloged by the 18th century astronomer Charles Messier who cataloged extended objects which were not…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 13 - NGC 188 - Old Cluster in the New General Catalog
In today's image, we see the open star cluster NGC 188, which is an old open star cluster - about 7 billion years old. Much older than typical open clusters in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 12 - The Conjunction of Comet R3 PanSTARRS and the Orion Nebula
In today's image, we see Comet R3 PanSTARRS as it passes close to the Orion Nebula. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel.This…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 11 - Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano
In today's image, we see a video of the Moon setting. This is a realtime video, taken with a telephoto lens which is why the Moon looks unusually large here.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 10 - Comet R3 PanSTARRS and Orion
In today's image, we see comet R3 PanSTARRS which is now heading out of our solar system. Also in the image are the star Rigel and the Witch Head and Orion…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 09 - Messier Craters in Stereo
In today's image, we see the craters Messier and Messier A on the moon. These are location in one of the lesser cratered seas or Maria on the lunar surface, My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 08 - Comet R3 PanSTARRS Before Rigel
In today's image, we see the comet known as R3 PanSTARRS as its tail stretches back in front of the distant Witch Head Nebula and the bright star Rigel in the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 07 - Supernova in a Sideways Spiral
In today's image, we see a recently detected supernova in an edge-on spiral galaxy. A supernova like this occurs at the end of the life of a massive star with…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 06 - The Retrograde Dance of Saturn and Neptune
In today's image, we see the retrograde motion of the planets Saturn and Neptune in images taken between May 2025 and February 2026.My podcasts are available…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 05 - Orion over Mount Teide
In today's image, we see the Orion region over Mount Teide. The Orion region is one of the nearest star forming regions to us in our galaxy. My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 04 - Superplumes Inside Earth
In today's image, we see what are known as superplumes inside Earth, detected by the motions of earthquake waves through Earth's interior. The exact cause of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 03 - Triffid Pillar and Jets
In today's image, we see part of the Triffid Nebula (M20) including desert pillars of material where stars are forming and jets from some of the young stars…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 02 - Seeing Titan
In today's image, we see multiple images of Saturn's moon, Titan. The central image is the normal visible light image showing the haz bin the atmosphere. The…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 May 01 - Markarian's Chain
In today's image, we see the set of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain. This is a group of galaxies that appear in a line - they are part of the Virgo Cluster…