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 September 02 - The Horsehead and Flame Nebulas
In today's image, we see the dark nebula known as the Horsehead nebula off to the right. To the left we see the Flame Nebula and at the top of the image, the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 September 01 - Callisto: Dirty Battered Iceball
In today's image, we see one of the large moons of Jupiter - Callisto. this is one of the large moons of the solar system, which shows cratering on its icy…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 31 - NGC 7027: The Pillow Planetary Nebula
In today's image, we see what is known as the Pillow Planetary Nebula. This type of nebula forms when a star like our Sun reaches the end of its life and sheds…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 30 - A Two Percent Moon
In today's image, we see the very young crescent moon - only 1.5 days old and only 2% of the visible face of the Moon illuminated. This is a waxing crescent…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 29 - A Dark Veil in Ophiuchus
In today's image, we see a long, dark nebula stretching across a red emission nebula in the constellation of Ophiuchus.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 28 - Galaxies, Stars, and Dust
In today's image, we see an image that shows a number of galaxies, stars within our own Milky Way galaxy, and dust clouds known as the galactic cirrus, which…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 27 - WISPIT 2b: Exoplanet Carves Gap in Birth Disk
In today's image, we see an image of an exoplanet which is in the process of carving out a gap in the disk of material around the star from which it formed. We…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 26 - A Leaky Solar Prominence
In today's image, we see a 3-second timelapse of a solar prominence as we watch solar material fall back onto the solar surface. My podcasts are available in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 25 - The Meteor and the Star Cluster
In today's image, we see an image of the Pleiades star cluster. A meteor happened by chance to be caught in the image.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 24 - The Spinning Pulsar of the Crab Nebula
In today's image, we see the central regions of the Crab Nebula showing the pulsar located at the center. A pulsar is a rapidly spinning neutron star - which…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 23 - Fishing for the Moon
In today's image, we see our Moon apparently caught in a fishing net in this image. The red color of the Moon is because of the fact that it is close to the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 22 - A Tale of Two Nebulae
In today's image, we see two nebulae: M57 also known as the Ring Nebula and IC 1296, a spiral galaxy - known as a spiral nebula until just about 100 years ago…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 21 - Mostly Perseids
In today's image, we see large number of Perseid meteors from the recent shower. This composite of about 500 images shows many Perseids, as well as a couple of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 20 - Perseid Meteors from Durdle Door
In today's image, we see a number of Perseid meteors captured in various images and combined together in one picture.My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 19 - Giant Galaxies in Pavo
In today's image, we see a number of giant galaxies in the constellation of Pave. This include the largest known spiral galaxy as well as a giant elliptical…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 18 - NGC 1309: A Useful Spiral Galaxy
In today's image, we see the galaxy known as NGC 1309. This galaxy is said to be useful since there have been multiple supernovae as well as Cepheid variable…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 16 - Asperitas Clouds over New Zealand
In today's image, we see an unusual type of cloud known as an Asperitas cloud as imaged about 20 years ago, but not formally identified as a distinct cloud…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 16 - A Cool GIF of a Perseid Meteor
In today's image, we see an animated GIF of a Perseid meteor from this past week. We can also see the trail (persistent train) left behind as the meteor…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 15 - Moonlight, Planets, and Perseids
In today's image, we see a couple of meteors from he recent Perseid shower. In addition, we see the planets Jupiter and Venus which are currently visible in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 14 - M13: The Great Globular Cluster in Hercules
In today's image, we see the globular cluster known as M13. This is one of the larger and brighter clusters which is actually visible to the unaided eye under…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 13 - Trapezium: In the Heart of Orion
In today's image, we see the central portion of the Orion Nebula, focusing on the Trapezium star cluster. The brightest of these stars emits the ultraviolet…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 12 - Perseids from Perseus
In today's image, we see a number of Perseid meteors from the 2024 Perseid Meteor Shower. The 2025 shower is happening now, although less prominent because of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 11 - Closest Ever Images Near the Sun
In today's image, we see images from the Parker Solar Probe. These are the closest images of the Sun ever obtained, only a few solar diameters from our Sun's…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 10 - Zodiacal Road
In today's image, we see the zodiacal light which is cause by dust within our solar system that scatters sunlight back to Earth. Recent studies have suggested…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 09 - Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS from Hubble
In today's image, we see comet 3I/ATLAS which is currently visiting our solar system from interstellar space. It will pass about as close as the orbit of Mars…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 08 - Dawn of the Crab
In today's image, we see images showing the morning sky this year in July as well as what the sky would have looked like in July of 1054. The difference is…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 07 - The Double Cluster in Perseus
In today's image, we see the double open star cluster known as h & chi Persei. This is a relatively young pair of open clusters which formed from the same…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 06 - Meteor Before Galaxy
In today's image, we see a meteor passing in front of the Andromeda galaxy on the sky in this image from 2016. This image was taken during the peak of the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 05 - NGC 6072: A Complex Planetary Nebula from Webb
In today's image, we see an image of the planetary nebula known as NGC 6072. This nebula shows unusual complexity which may be due to the central star being in…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 04 - Blue Arcs Toward Andromeda
In today's image, we see recently discovered blue arcs near the Andromeda Galaxy in the sky. These arcs have been found to be a new class of object known as a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 03 - Milky Way and Exploding Meteor
In today's image, we see a meteor which explodes in the sky which was images while take the photo of our Milky Way galaxy.My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 02 - Fireflies, Meteors, and Milky Way
In today's image, we see our Milky Way Galaxy across the middle of the image, top to bottom. In addition, we see sever meteors and a large number of trails…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 August 01 - Small Dark Nebula
In today's image, we see a Bok Globule, which is a small, dark nebula in space. Within the globule, stars are in the process of forming although still hidden…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 31 - Supernova 2025rbs in NGC 7331
In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as NGC 7331. Wishing it, a supernova is marked which was discovered earlier this month. This is an example of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 30 - Coronal Loops in the Sun
In today's image, we see four images of solar prominances taken over the past year or so. These are formed with the magnetic field of the Sun lifts material of…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 29 - A Helix Nebula Deep Field
In today's image, we see the planetary nebula known as the Helix Nebula in a deep, 12 hour exposure through a 14 inch telescope. A planetary nebula is the end…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 28 - Collision at Asteroid Dimorphos
In today's image, we see a short clip showing the collision on the asteroid moon Dimorphos. This was part of the DART mission to see if we would be able to…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 27 - Lightning over the Volcano of Water
In today's image, we see lightning in the sky over the Volcano of Water. Lightning forms when electrical charges are separated within clouds and then discharge…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 26 - Globular Cluster Omega Centauri
In today's image, we see the globular cluster known as Omega Centauri. Globular clusters are among the oldest parts of a galaxy. However, this cluster may…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 25 - Twelve Years of Kappa Cygnids
In today's image, we see an image showing 12 years of the Kappa Cygnid meteor shower. This is images from 2012 - 2024 hat have been combined together in a…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 24 - Titan Shadow Transit
In today's image, we see the shadow of Saturn's large moon, Titan as it appears on the clouds of the ringed planet. My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 23 - Fireball over Cape San Blas
In today's image, we see a fireball which is a very bright meteor - brighter than the planet Venus. These occur when small rocks enter Earth's atmosphere and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 22 - A Double Detonation Supernova
In today's image, we see a remnant left behind by a supernova that exploded about 400 years ago. It is considered a double detonation because an initial…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 21 - Cat's Paw Nebula from Webb Space telescope
In today's image, we see the emission nebula known as the Cat's Paw or Bear Claw nebula. This is a part of a star forming region within our Milky Way galaxy.My…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 20 - Lunar Nearside
In today's image, we see the near side of our Moon. Because our moon rotates at the same rate that it revolves around Earth, one side is always facing Earth…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 19 - Messier 6
In today's image, we see Messier 6, which is an open star cluster located in the constellation of Scorpius. The brightest star is the orange colored star near…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 18 - ISS Meets Saturn
In today's image, we see an image capturing a conjunction of the International Space Station and the planet Saturn. Such an image takes careful planning and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 16 - 3I/ATLAS
In today's image, we see the comet known as 3I/ATLAS. This is the third object discovered to have been determined to be visiting the solar system from another…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 16 - The Rosette Nebula from DECam
In today's image, we see the Rosette Nebula which includes a young cluster of stars as well as the emission nebula itself. My podcasts are available in video…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 15 - Collapse in Hebes Chamsa on Mars
In today's image, we see Hebes Chamsa on Mars. Inside the Chasma is Hebes Mensa, a mesa which has experienced a collapse on the left side as seen in the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 14 - NGC 2685: The Helix Galaxy
In today's image, we see what is known as the Helix Galaxy which is an example of a rare type of galaxy known as a polar ring galaxy. It is expected that this…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 13 - Planetary Nebula Mz3: The Ant Nebula
In today's image, we see an example of a planetary nebula. This is known as the Any Nebula for its distinctive shape. The reason that it formed this specific…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 12 - Clouds and the Golden Moon
In today's image, we see an image showing the full moon of July 10 analog with some clouds in Earth's atmosphere. My podcasts are available in video form…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 11 - The Veins of Heaven
In today's image, we see noctilucent clouds up high in the sky as seen in Sweden recently. These clouds are high in the sky so that the Sun is still above the…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 10 - Lynds Dark Nebula 1251
In today's image, we see LDN 1251, an example of a dark nebula in which stars are currently forming. in addition, several Herbig-Haro objects are one as well…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 09 - A Beautiful Trifid
In today's image, we see M20 - The Trifid Nebula. This region contains three different types of nebulae - the dark, dusty nebulae, the blue reflection nebulae…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 08 - The Pleiades in Red and Blue
In today's image, we see the Pleiades star cluster in an image derived from 25 hours' worth of exposure to bring out some of the fine detail in the gas and…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 07 - Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS
In today's image, we see a diagram showing the orbit od an interstellar visitor to the solar system, known as 3I/ATLAS. This is a comet which comes from…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 06 - The Spiral North Pole of Mars
In today's image, we see the north polar region of mars as constructed from laster altimeter data to give us a better view of this region of Mars.My podcasts…
- NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
2025 July 05 - Ou4: The Giant Squid Nebula
In today's image, we see the region known as Ou4, a relatively recently discovered nebula, seen in the blue light here, signifying the emission of oxygen atoms…