NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we see the first quarter moon above a mountain. Here we can see the similar shadows of both objects. We note that the right side is illuminated while the left side is dark. This is caused by the fact that both shadows are created by light from our own Sun. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site fo...

In today's image, we see massive snow drifts from a storm that struck Michigan's Upper Peninsula 86 years ago this week. This is not the overall level of snow that fell, but drifts cause by high winds. The large amount of snow made roads essentially unallowable due to the amount of snow. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media...

In today's image, we see the boost back burn of the side boosters of a Falcon Heavy rocket as they returned to Earth on December 28 of last year. The boosters are then refueled and used for future missions. This was the fifth use of this pair of boosters. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can acc...

In today's image, we see a number of images taken over the timespan of 2 hours and 30 minutes. This is about one quarter of a day on Jupiter which rotates in a bit less than 10 hours. Jupiter is the fastest rotating of all the planets in the solar system. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can acc...

In today's image, we see an image of the aurora or norther lights as seen from an airplane. The red and green colors are both caused by the excitation of oxygen atoms in Earth's upper atmosphere with the red color from the higher layers and the green from lower layers. Both are from the upper atmosphere, well above Earth's surface. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Chann...

In today's image, we see the command module from the Apollo 17 mission from December of 1972 against the background of our Moon. The was the final mission to land humans on the Moon. We are continuing exploration of our Moon and plans are to have a group os astronauts travel around the Moon and back as early as September of 2025. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel...

In today's image, we see a deep image of the region around Orion. The prominent stars in Orion are there, but not as prominent as we are used to because of all of the gas/dust that is visible in the deep image. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astron...

In today's image, we see the star cluster known by its catalog designation of IC 348. Many young clusters like this are hidden by dust and not well studied in visible light. The James Webb Space Telescope which also observes in the infrared gives us a look into this young cluster, including the many brown dwarf stars forming here. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channe...

In today's image, we see an aurora over Iceland which may be seen to resemble a dragon in the sky. The aurora are caused by charged particles from our Sun which excite oxygen atoms in Earth's upper atmosphere and cause them to glow. The more active the Sun, the stronger and more prominent the aurora will be. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an...

In today's image, we see a circle around the Sun in the form of a 22 degrees halo caused by ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere. The planet Earth also circles the Sun, but in an elliptical orbit which causes its distance to change slightly over the year. A bit over a week ago, Earth was at its closest to the Sun, what we call perihelion. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube...

In today's image, we see the thin crescent moon in the morning sky. This was the last day before the moon reached the new phases and started its cycle of phases over again. While we cannot see them in this image, Mercury and Venus would also go through a cycle of phases as seen from Earth.  My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Me...

In today's image, we see a number of meteors from the Quadrantid meteor shower. A meteor shower is named from the constellation from which the meteors appear to radiate. In this case, it is the obsolete constellation of Quadrans Muralis which is no longer one of the constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Chann...

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 nebulae, blue reflection nebulae, and dark dusty nebulae. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Ast...

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 extremely hot and massive stars which expel material out into space. They are also stars that are expected to become supernovae at some point in the future. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an a...

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 difference is that Venus will change size as its orbit takes it closer to and farther from us in our own orbit. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for AP...

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 state of a star much like our own Sun with the nebula surrounding the compact white dwarf star at the center. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APO...

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 some much better understanding of how comets behave by orbiting and studying it up close. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access th...

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 the ultraviolet light that energizes the rest of the nebula and causes it to glow. It is possible that there is also a black hole present here, based on studies of the velocities of the stars. My podcasts are available in video form through t...

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 was likely once in a binary system where the companion star exploded, allowing this star to make its journey through the galaxy. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mir...

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 still not completely understood. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day...

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 into space. The distortions on the lower part of the Moon are caused by the rocket exhaust heating the atmosphere. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site fo...

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 flowing outward from the center. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and website directly at: Astronomy Picture of the Day...

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 structures that develop over time. We will see how dark matter is needed to form the structures seen in the universe today. We also can wonder why the simulation produces far more old stars than we see in our universe. My podcasts are available in...

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 atmosphere and their bending of light. Earth's atmosphere is also responsible for the color changes seen when our Moon is close to the horizon. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized Ne...

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 of the naming of its moons for characters from the works of Shakespeare. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You can access the image and websi...