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
2025 November 01 - Pleaides from Planet Earth
In today's image, we see the Pleiades star cluster. This is also known as M45 and is a prominent star cluster visible in the sky, located in the constellation…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 31 - Ghosts in Cassiopeia
In today's image, we see patterns that may resemble ghosts located in the direction of the constellation of Cassiopeia.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 30 - Lynds Dark Nebula 43
In today's image, we see the object known as Lynds Dark Nebula 43 which has the rough appearance of a bat flying across the sky. It is actually a dark nebula…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 29 - Dust Shapes of the Ghost Nebula
In today's image, we see the region around the Ghost Nebula in the constellation of Cepheus. This is a part of a star forming region which new stars forming…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 28 - NGC 6995: The Bat Nebula
In today's image, we see the nebula known as the Bat Nebula. this is a part of the Veil supernova remnant which also contains another nebula of the Halloween…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 27 - Two Tails of Comet Lemmon
In today's image, we see Comet Lemmon which remains visible in the northwest after sunset for observers in the northern hemisphere. While barely visible with…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 26 - Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula
In today's image, we see the Ghost Head Nebula which is a star forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We also leek at Halloween and discuss it as a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 25 - Webb's Rho Ophiuchi
In today's image, we see Rho Ophiuchi star forming region as imaged by the James Webb Space Telescope. The is the nearest star forming region to our own solar…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 24 - Saturn at Night
In today's image, we see Saturn as imaged by the Cassini spacecraft back in September of 2017 a couple of days before it was plunged into Saturn's atmosphere…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 23 - SWAN, Swan, Eagle
In today's image, we see the Swan and Eagle Nebulae as well as Comet SWAN as it passes in front of some of the bright star clouds of our Milky Way galaxy.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 22 - Comet Lemmon over the High Tatras
In today's image, we see a composite image of 50 photos put together to show detail in the tails of Comet Lemmon. The comet is currently visible in northern…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 21 - IC 1805: The Heart Nebula
In today's image, we see the emission nebula known as the Heart Nebula. This is a star forming region in the process of forming a new cluster of stars.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 20 - Finding Comet Lemmon
In today's image, we see Comet Lemmon which is currently visible near the Big Dipper in the Northern sky. It may be easier to find using your camera phone to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 19 - Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko Creates Its Tails
In today's image, we see comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko as imaged by the Rosetta spacecraft. This shows jets of materials being expelled from the comet which are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 18 - 3D Bennu
In today's image, we see the asteroid named Bennu. This asteroid was visited by the ORIRIS-REx spacecraft and returned a sample of this asteroid to Earth in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 17 - Ida and Dactyl: Asteroid and Moon
In today's image, we see the second asteroid to be visited by a spacecraft which was the asteroid Ida which was visited by the Galileo spacecraft on its way to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 16 - Young Suns of NGC 7129
In today's image, we see the seat forming region known as NGC 7129. This may be much like the region where our own Sun formed five billion or so years ago.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 15 - Rocket Launch Plume over Tucson
In today's image, we see the plume from the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket which was delivering multiple Starling communications satellites to low Earth orbit.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 14 - An Unusual Globule in IC 1396
In today's image, we see a part of the Elephant Trunk Nebula which is also known by its catalog designations of IC 1396. This is also considered a cometary…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 13 - Lemmon Tree
In today's image, we see Comet Lemmon positioned above a tree here on Earth. Comet Lemmon has reached its closest approach to our Sun and is now approaching…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 12 - All the Water on Europa
In today's image, we see a comparison of the water on Earth versus the water on Jupiter's moon, Europa. Despite its smaller size, Europa is expected to have…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 11 - Manicouagan Impact Crater from Space
In today's image, we see the Manicouagan impact crater in Quebec, Canada as imaged from the International Space Station back in 2019.My podcasts are available…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 10 - 50 Light Years to 51 Pegasi
In today's image, we see the sky above the telescope dome where the exoplanet 51 Pegasi b was discovered - this was the first discovery of a planet around a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 09 - The Jenga Moon
In today's image, we see the Moon as it rises over a building in New York City. This was the full moon from a few days ago and is also known as the Harvest…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 08 - NGC 7380: The Wizard Nebula
In today's image, we see the star forming region known as the Wizard Nebula. Here, newly forming stars are creating the patterns and colors that we see. My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 07 - SN Encore: A Second Supernova Seen Several Times
In today's image, we see multiple images of a supernova occurring in a distant galaxy. Multiple images are possible because of gravitational lensing cause by…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 06 - The Changing Ion Tail of Comet Lemmon
In today's image, we see five images of Comet Lemmon taken of the period of about a week. Here we can see the distinct changes that occur in the ion tail of a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 05 - A Long Storm System on Saturn
In today's image, we see a storm on Saturn from 2010 as images by the Cassini spacecraft. The storm lasted for six months and stretched all the way around the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 04 - The Rotating Moon
In today's image, we see a video composed of images from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showing what it would look like if we could see the Moon as it…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 03 - Pandora's Cluster of Galaxies
In today's image, we see the cluster sometime known as Pandora's Cluster. This is a large galaxy cluster which appears to be three clusters merging together…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 02 - Pluto at Night
In today's image, we see an image of Pluto as taken by the New Horizons spacecraft over a decade ago. This image was taken shortly after New Horizons passed by…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 October 01 - NGC 6960: The Witch's Broom Nebula
In today's image, we see the supernova remnant known as the Witch's Broom Nebula. This is the remnant of a star that would have been seen to explode here on…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 30 - Comet Lemmon Brightens
In today's image, we see an image of Comet Lemmon, the third comet currently visible in the sky with the aid of binoculars. The comet will make its closes…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 29 - Two Camera Comets in One Sky
In today's image, we see Comet SWAN and Comet ATLAS as they appear close to one another in the sky.My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 28 - Leopard Spots on Martian Rocks
In today's image, we see a close-up of spots on Martian rocks as discovered by the Perseverance Rover. There is a possibility that such spots could have a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 27 - A Rocket in the Sun
In today's image, we see a rocket imaged as it passed across the face of the Sun in the sky.My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 26 - A SWAN, an ATLAS, and Mars
In today's image, we see two comets: Comet SWAN and Comet ATLAS as well as the planet Mars in this image.My podcasts are available in video form through this…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 25 - Saturn Opposite the Sun
In today's image, we see Saturn on the day of opposition when it was directly opposite to the Sun in the sky a few days ago. Here it is wishing the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 24 - GW250114: Rotating Black Holes Collide
In today's image, we see an illustration showing the area around colliding black holes. This is meant to illustrate the collision detected earlier this year of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 23 - NGC 6357: Cathedral to Massive Stars
In today's image, we see NGC 6357 which contains some of the most massive stars known, pushing toward 100 times the mass of our own Sun.My podcasts are…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 22 - Equinox at Saturn
In today's image, we see images of Saturn showing the changing position of the rings as its equinox approaches.My podcasts are available in video form through…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 21 - Equinox Sunset
In today's image, we see different paths of the Sun as it sets at different times of year. As the equinox approaches, the view will be like the center line…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 20 - Gibbous vs Crescent
In today's image, we see the waning crescent Moon as well as the planet Venus in its gibbous phase as they passed relatively near to one another recently.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 19 - The NGC 6914 Complex
In today's image, we see the nebulae around NGC 6914. These include red emission nebulae as well as blue reflection nebulae. My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 18 - Comet C/2025 R2 (SWAN)
In today's image, we see the comet known as SWAN25B. This comet made its closest approach to the Sun shortly after it was discovered a week ago. It is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 17 - Nebulae and Clusters in Sagittarius
In today's image, we see various nebulae and star clusters located in the direction of the constellations of Sagittarius which is located near the plane of the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2015 September 16 - New Comet SWAN25B over Mexico
In today's image, we see a newly discovered comet known as SWAN25B. The comet is currently moving closer to Earth and will likely brighten over the next month…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 15 - Earth During a Powerful Solar Storm
In today's image, we see a computer simulator of a powerful coronal mass ejection striking Earth's magnetic field. A strong enough CME could push the Earth's…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 14 - Planets of the Solar System: Tilts and Spins
In today's image, we see a video which demonstrates the tilt and rotational spin of each of the eight planets in the solar system.My podcasts are available in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 13 - Star Trails Over One Mile Radio Telescope
In today's image, we see star trails in the sky over the One-Mile Radio Telescope in the United Kingdom. My podcasts are available in video form through this…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 12 - Lunar Eclipse in Two Hemispheres
In today's image, we see images of the lunar eclipse as viewed in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres of Earth. This shows the different perspectives…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 11 - The Umbra of Earth
In today's image, we see images from the recent lunar eclipse. The red and blue colors are caused by light being scattered differently by different parts of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 10 - The Great Lacerta Nebula
In today's image, we see a large, faint nebula known in the constellation of Lacerta to the Lizard. It can be hard to see because it is too faint for…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 09 - Up from the Earth: Gigantic Jet Lightning
In today's image, we see an image of gigantic jet lightning on Earth as imaged from the International Space Station.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 08 - IRAS 04302: Butterfly Disk Planet Formation
In today's image, we see IRAS 04302 which is a planetary disk in the process of formation. This is a recent image from the James Webb Space Telescope which is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 07 - All the Water on Planet Earth
In today's image, we see images showing how much water there is on Earth compared to its entire size. even though we often consider Earth to be a water planet…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 06 - Sardinia Sunset
In today's image, we see a sunset from Sardinia in an image taken last month. When the moon is full, it will rise as the sun sets which will happen tomorrow…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 05 - 47 Tucanae: Globular Star Cluster
In today's image, we see the globular star cluster known as 47 Tuc. This is a prominent star cluster visible in the souther hemisphere and the second brightest…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 04 - NGC 4565: Galaxy on Edge
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as NGC 4565. This is a spiral galaxy seen edge-on from Earth. We can see the thin disk of the galaxy, giving…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 03 - Cir X-1: Jets in the Africa Nebula
In today's image, we see recently studied jets within the Africa Nebula around the neutron star - the x-ray source of Cir X-1. New studies show that the jets…