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 March 01 - The Moon During a Total Lunar Eclipse
In today's image, we see our Moon as it passes into Earth's shadow during a total lunar eclipse. The red color we see is cause by light that passes through…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 28 - Lunar Occultation of Mercury
In today's image, we see two images of the Moon and Mercury - one just before and the other just after the occupation that occurred on February 18 of this…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 27 - Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula
In today's image, we see two nebulae - Sharpless 249, an emission nebula to the upper left. We also see the Jellyfish Nebula, a supernova remnant to the lower…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 26 - Webb and Hubble: IC 5332
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy IC 5332. We show it here in two images taken by different telescopes. The Hubble image, taken in visible/ultraviolet…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 25 - The Egg Nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope
In today's image, we see the Egg Nebula. This nebula shows what happens when a star like the Sun ends its life. The "yolk" (core) is hidden by dust, and the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 24 - Planet Parade over Sydney Opera House
In today's image, we see planets in a line over the Sydney Opera House. This image is from 2022, but a similar parade occurs this week when four (slightly…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 23 - Pleiades: Seven Sisters Star Custer
In today's image, we see the Pleiades star closer located in the constellation of Taurus. The long exposure allows us to see a lot of the dust surrounding the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 22 - Shadow of a Martian Robot
In today's image, we see the shadow of the Opportunity rover which explored Mars from 2004-2018 when a dust storm caused it to shut down. My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 21 - Twilight with Moon and Planets
In today's image, we see our Moon as well as the planets Mercury, Venus, and Saturn which are currently visible in the twilight sky right after sunset.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 20 - B93: A Dark Interstellar Ghost
In today's image, we see a dark nebula in the Sagittarius region of the sky. The dark nebula contains dust grains which block out the light from behind.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 19 - IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula
In today's image, we see an irregular galaxy known as Coddington's Nebula. Discovered in 1898, the is a small galaxy located about 12 million light years from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 18 - Orion's Cradle
In today's image, we see the region around the Orion Molecular Cloud and Star Forming Region. This has been imaged in hydrogen-alpha light which allows us to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 17 - Tales of Comet Wierzchoś
In today's image, we see Comet Wierzchoś which is making its first and only visit to the inner solar system. It is currently making its closest approach to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 16 - Unexplained Shocks Around a White Dwarf Star
In today's image, we see a white dwarf star as imaged by the Very Large Telescope in Chile. The shockwaves around it are currently unexplained, but have…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 15 - To Fly Free in Space
In today's image, we see an image of an astronaut floating free in space. He is using a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU) Which allows the astronaut to move in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 14 - Roses are Red
In today's image, we see the Rosette Nebula. This is a prominent star forming region in our galaxy where the newly formed stars are hollowing out the central…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 13 - NGC 147 and NGC 185
In today's image, we seethe small dwarf galaxies which are satellites of the Andromeda galaxy. These are actually a binary pair of galaxies which orbit each…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 12 - The Bay of Rainbows
In today's image, we see a portion of the Moon known at the Bay of Rainbows. This is a part of Mare Imbrium on our Moon which is one of the maria or seas. The…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 11 - A Year of Sunspots
In today's image, we see the year 2025 in sunspots. The central image shows the sunspots for the entire year as measured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 10 - In Green Company: Aurora over Norway
In today's image, we see an image of the aurora as seen over Norway back in 2014. The aurora have also been prominent recently as the Sun reaches the peak of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 09 - Miranda Revisited
In today's image, we see Miranda, moon of Uranus. The image is based on images taken by Voyager 2 back in 1986 which have been combined and reprocessed. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 08 - Active Sunspot Region 4366 Crosses the Sun
In today's image, we see the active sunspot region 4366 as visible on the face of the Sun. Active sunspot regions are the source of much solar activity…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 07 - Crescent Enceladus
In today's image, we see the moon of Saturn known as Enceladus as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft back in 2016.My podcasts are available in video form through…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 06 - Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
In today's image, we see the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. This would have been seen to explode back in the mid-late 1600s but was never definitively…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 05 - NGC 1275 in the Perseus Cluster
In today's image, we see the central galaxy in the Perseus Cluster of galaxies, NGC 1275. This galaxy shows long structures that come out of it, likely due to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 04 - Spiral Galaxy NGC 1512: Wide Field
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as NGC 1512. This is an example of a ring galaxy with three separate rings at different distances from the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 03 - Red Spider Planetary Nebula from Webb
In today's image, we see the Red Spider Planetary Nebula - this is what forms at the end of the life of a star like our Sun - at least it would if our star…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 02 - Orion: The Running Man Nebula
In today's image, we see part of the Orion star forming region focusing on the Running Man Nebula. Here we see blue reflection nebulae, red emission nebulae…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 February 01 - Galle: Happy Face Crater on Mars
In today's image, we see the crater known as Galle - sometimes known as the Happy Face crater for its distinct features.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 31 - Artemis I: Flight Day 13
In today's image, we see the Artemis I spacecraft as it reached its greatest distance from Earth in November of 2022. Artemis II is scheduled for launch next…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026. January 30 - NGC 1333: Stellar Nursery in Perseus
In today's image, we see a star forming region in the constellation of Perseus. Within, we see a blue reflection nebula, plus the red color of interstellar gas…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 29 - NGC 2442: Galaxy in Volans
In today's image, we see the barred spiral galaxy known by its catalog designation NGC 2442. The galaxy is a bit distorted, likely because it is interacting…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 28 - Reflecting Blue in a Sea of Red
In today's image, we see a small portion of the Orion star forming region including red emission from hydrogen and blue reflection nebulae. My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 27 - Orion's Treasures over Snowy Mountains
In today's image, we see the region around the constellation of Orion in a long exposure taken using a camera looking at a large region of the sky. The long…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 26 - NGC 55: A Galaxy of Nebulas
In today's image, we see the galaxy known as NGC 55. This image consists of 50 hours of exposure, looking just at the light emitted by hydrogen and oxygen…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 25 - Phobos: Doomed Moon of Mars
In today's image, we see Phobos, one of the two moons of Mars as imaged by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It is called the doomed moon because it is in a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 24 - Earthset from Orion
In today's image, we see the Earth about to set behind the limb of the Moon as seen from the Orion spacecraft back in 2022. This was part of the Artemis I…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 23 - Planetary Nebula Abell 7
In today's image, we see the planetary nebula known as Abell 7. A planetary nebula is the end-state of a star much like our own Sun. It may resemble what our…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 22 - LDN 1622: Dark Nebula in Orion
In today's image, we see the dark nebula known as LDN 1622. This is a dark nebula in the constellation of Orion and located in the nearby Orion star forming…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 21 - Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365 from Webb
In today's image, we see the barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 1365. This is a nearby barred spiral galaxy, much like our own Milky Way. It is being observed…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 20 - Io in True Color
In today's image, we see an image of Jupiter's moon, Io as seen by the Galileo spacecraft back in 1999. It is rendered in true color showing what the typical…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 19 - CTB 1: The Medulla Nebula
In today's image, we see the supernova remnant known as the Medulla Nebula. This is a supernova remnant located in the constellation of Cassiopeia which would…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 18 - Jupiter from the Webb Space Telescope
In today's image, we see Jupiter as imaged in the infrared from JWST. We can see the banding on the planet itself, as well as the Great Red Spot, aurora, and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 17 - Apollo 14: A View from Antares
In today's image, we see a view from the Apollo 14 lunar module, looking back out over the lunar surface at various items left behind during the exploration of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 16 - NGC 7023: The Iris Nebula
In today's image, we see the reflection nebula known as the Iris Nebula. The blue light is caused by reflection of starlight off of dust grains.My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 15 - Plato and the Lunar Alps
In today's image, we see a small region of the Moon showing the large, flooded crater named Plato as well as the mountains of the lunar alps. My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 14 - M51: The Whirlpool Galaxy
In today's image, we see the galaxy known at the Whirlpool Galaxy - a galaxy relatively close to our Milky Way showing prominent spiral arms possibly due to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 13 - A Solar Eruption from SDO
In today's image, we see a coronal mass ejection as imaged by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. This is an eruption of material from the solar surface, pushed…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 12 - Meteor Dust
In today's image, we see dust drifting away from a meteor in this image taken during the Geminid meteor shower last month.My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 11 - M104: The Sombrero Galaxy in Infrared
In today's image, we see M104 - The Sombrero Galaxy as imaged in infrared light recently by the Spitzer Space Telescope. My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 10 - Jupiter with the Great Red Spot
In today's image, we see an image of Jupiter from a few days ago. Jupiter is at opposition today, when it is closest to Earth and visible all night long.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 09 - Ice Halos by Moonlight and Sunlight
In today's image, we see two images showing halos in the sky. to the left, we see halos around our Moon and to the right, halos around our Sun.My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 08 - IC 342: Hidden Galaxy in Camelopardalis
In today's image, we see that would be one of the brighter galaxies were it not for its location near the plane of our galaxy. This means its light is dimmed…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 07 - Simeis 147: The Spaghetti Supernova Remnant
In today's image, we see the remnant left behind by an exploded star from a supernova that occurred 40,000 years ago. My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 06 - Jupiter's Clouds in High Definition from Juno
In today's image, we see m image from the Juno spacecraft from a close approach to Jupiter last month. We can see the storms in the polar regions which are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 05 - The Red Rectangle Nebula from Hubble
In today's image, we see the Red Rectangle Nebula, formed from the outflow from a binary star system. My podcasts are available in video form through this…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 04 - The Einstein Cross Gravitational Lens
In today's image, we see the gravitational lens known as the Einstein Cross for its distinctive pattern which occurs because a distant quasar is imaged…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 03 - Full Moonlight
In today's image, we see an image of the full moon. The first full moon of 2026 occurs today, Jan 3. It will also be a supermoon - the moon being close to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 02 - NanoSail-D2
In today's image, we see images of NanoSail-D2 from 2011. This was a ship used to test the feasibility of sailing on the solar wind, using the pressure of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2026 January 01 - Auroral Corona
In today's image, we see an image of the aurora as seen over Iceland. This image was taken in March of 2025 after a solar storm that gave prominent aurora such…