NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we see an artist's conception drawing of the exoplanet known as K2-18b where methane has recently been discovered. In addition, water was detected in the atmosphere of the planet back in 2019. This leads to the possibility that there may be some kind of life on this planet.

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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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see HH 211 - this is an example of what is called a Herbig-Haro object. These objects are associated with newly forming stars and are formed when jets of material expelled by the star strike material surrounding the star and cause it to glow.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see an example of red sprite lightning in the sky. This lightning is associated with storm clouds but occurs much higher in the atmosphere with the tendrils that can speed down at about 1/10 the speed of light.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see an image of an annular eclipse of the Sun from 2020. This type of eclipse occurs when the Moon is a bit farther away and does not appear quite large enough to block out the entire disk of the Sun. A similar eclipse will occur next month and a total solar eclipse will occur in April of next year.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see a fireball visible in the sky over Iceland, near the Arctic Circle. A fireball is a meteor formed by a larger piece of material being vaporized in Earth's upper atmosphere. In the second image, we can see the trail left behind after the fireball itself disappeared.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see an image taken from an airplane on a flight to Mexico City. We see the active volcano off in the distance. And, up in the sky, we see the thin crescent moon as well as the planet Venus.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as NGC 7331. this galaxy is about 50 million light years from Earth. Beyond it we see several other galaxies in the distance - since these galaxies appear about 1/10 the size of NGC 7331, we can estimate that they are 10x more distant. (This does assume that the galaxies are about the same diameter!)

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see the spiral galaxy known as NGC 4632. The galaxy has a recently discovered polar ring - the ring of material is essentially perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy itself. Further studies and models are ongoing to help us better understand these objects.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see the galaxy cluster known as Abell 370. The arcs in the photo are distorted images of distant galaxies beyond the cluster that have be affected by gravitational lensing. When light passes through a region of large mass, its path is changed because of the way the mass distorts the spacetime around it. This was a prediction of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity from over 100 years ago.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

In today's image, we see both Comet Nishimura and the planet Venus in the morning sky just before sunrise. Comet Nishimura will make its closest approach to Earth tomorrow and then closest to our Sun in about a week before heading back to the outer solar system where it will remain until in next ventures in to the inner solar system about 400 years from now.

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. You can use the archive link below the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podcast.

I welcome comments and suggestions about these podcasts. I can be reached here: [email protected]

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.