NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we see the Perseus Cluster of galaxies about 250 million light year distant. in addition, we see many other galaxies here go out to distances of billions of light years. The Euclid telescope, launched earlier this year, is designed to survey the universe to give us a better understanding of dark matter and dark energy. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube...

In today's image, we see a short video clip showing a dust devil on Mars as captured by the Perseverance Rover. Dust devils will occur on Mars just as they do on Earth and studying them on Mars can help give us a better understanding of how this phenomenon works. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD. You...

In today's image, we see the aurora as seen over Italy just a day ago. This is because of a coronal mass ejection which sent a large number of particle in Earth's direction. The intense storm was able to deform Earth's magnetic field which made the aurora visible at lower latitudes than is typical. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized...

In today's image, we see an aurora in the sky over Norway from about a decade ago. The aurora will become more prominent with increased solar activity so we can expect more auroral activity as the Sun becomes more active over the next year or two. 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...

In today's image, we see the asteroid Dinkinesh which is the first of a dozen or so asteroids to be explored by the Lucy spacecraft which is exploring the asteroid belt. This will hopefully give us a better understanding of these objects which are remnants of the early solar system and may be able to give us a look into the types od materials that formed Earth billions of years ago. My podcasts ar...

In today's image, we see our Moon and the planet Jupiter in the same image. Jupiter is currently at opposition which means that it is opposite to the Sun in the sky. This makes it nicely visible all night long as it will rise as the Sun sets and set as the Sun rises. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site for APOD....

In today's image, we see one of the nearer galaxy clusters to our solar system which is known as the Fornax Cluster. The dominant galaxies in this cluster are the two giant elliptical galaxies toward the bottom of the 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 direc...

In today's image, we see the recent annular solar eclipse as seen from Utah, USA. An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is a bit farther away and is not able to completely block out the Sun, leaving a ring of fire from the Sun around the limb of the Moon. A total solar eclipse will be visible over parts of North America on April 8 of 2024. My podcasts are available in video form through this You...

In today's image, we see the Wizard Nebula which is a star forming region which consists of a large amount of gas and dust - some of which is still in the process of forming stars. Halloween is actually one of the cross-quarter days which are the days halfway between an equinox and a solstice. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New...

In today's image, we see the nebula known as the Ghost Nebula. Here we see a dusty area of space in the direction of the constellation of Cepheus. The darker dusty area are where stars are continuing to form. The less dense area are where light is reflected off of the dust grains. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror...

In today's image, we see a partial eclipse of the Moon that just occurred with the full moon. A lunar eclipse occurs when our Moon passes into Earth's shadow and part of the Moon does not receive direct sunlight. In this case it is the portion to the lower right that is within Earth's shadow. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorized New M...

In today's image, we see the region around the bright star Gamma Cas, one of the brighter stars in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The red glow in an emission nebula caused by emission from hydrogen gas excited by the ultraviolet light from the star. The blue is reflection of the light off of dust grains in the nebula. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Po...

In today's image, we see Comet Encke - a periodic comet that returns to the inner solar system every 3.3 years and made its closest approach to the Sun just a few days ago. On the other side of the image, we see an emission nebula and a much greater distance which is in the process of forming new stars. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an autho...

In today's image, we see two Orionid meteors in the sky. The Orionid meteor shower is one of two that occurs each year that is associated with debris left behind by Halley's Comet. The cluster of stars off to the right is the Pleiades star cluster. 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...

In today's image, we see a video watching the Sun set below the horizon. We will note the distortions around the limb of the Sun caused by Earth's atmosphere. We will also note the green (and blue) colors around the limb of the Sun and the green/blue light that briefly remains after the Sun has set. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authorize...

In today's image, we see a pair of galaxies in the process of merging - a process which can take a billion years or more. Galaxy mergers are quire common and are how galaxies have grown in size from the small galaxies created after the Big Bang to the large spiral and elliptical galaxies we see today. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast is an authori...

In today's image, we see an image of the moon of Jupiter known as Io as taken recently by the Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. Io is the most volcanically active object in our solar system because of the gravitational interactions between it and Jupiter and some of the other moons. Closer images are expected over the next few months as Juno will make a couple of even closer passes to this moon. M...

In today's image, we see an aurora over Northern Canada in this image taken a decade ago. Perhaps you will see the apparition of a ghostly figure in the aurora as your mind try to put some order to the random patterns in the sky. 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...

In today's image, we see all of the quarter moon of the year 2022. These include both the first quarter moons and third quarter moons of the year. We can tell this by the side that it's illuminated. The first quarter moon will be illuminated on the right side and the third quarter moon illuminated on the left side. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel . This Podcast...

In today's image, we see a number of galaxies which are at varying distances from Earth. In addition, we see Comet Lemmon which was recently discovered and which will be making its closest approaches to Earth and Sun over the next few weeks. 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...

In today's image, we see a sunrise image and, shortly thereafter, an eclipse of the Sun. We see multiple images of the Sun taken every two minutes to show the progression of the eclipse. 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 part of the Veil Nebula which is the remnant left behind by a star that would have been seen from Earth to have exploded 15,000 years ago in the constellation of Cygnus. The material has been expanding outward since that time and will eventually become a part of the general interstellar medium and become seed material for new stars. My podcasts are available in video for...

In today's image, we see an image taken by the ALMA array of radio telescopes in Chile. The newly formed star at the center has a ring of planet forming material around it. Just inside the ring is a planet that is forming and is about the size of Jupiter. In addition, the material around the planet is believed to be forming several moons about the size of our own Moon around the planet. My podcast...

In today's image, we see an image of the annular solar eclipse from this past Saturday with two people silhouetted in the foreground. The annular eclipse was visible from parts of North and South America. We will have a total solar eclipse visible from parts of Mexico and the Eastern United States and Canada coming up on April 4 of this coming year. My podcasts are available in video form through...

In today's image, we see multiple images of the Sun on the ground created by pinhole lenses from the leaves of a tree. Here we see the crescent shape of the nearly totally eclipsed Sun from the eclipse that occurred yesterday. Another eclipse will occur on April 8 of this coming year which will be visible across parts of Mexico and the Eastern half of the United States and Canada. My podcasts are...