NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we see crepuscular rays above the rising full moon on August 1 of this year. The next full moon will also occur in August, making it a blue moon - the second time a full moon occurred in the month. Because of the lunar cycle, this happens only every few years.

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 trail showing the launch of a Falcon rocked taking a communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit. We also see the descent burns from the return of the two booster rockets. In the foreground, we see a Redstone rocket of the type that carried Alan Shepard into space as the first American to reach space in 1961.

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 known as M 82. This is a spiral galaxy an is also classified as a starburst galaxy because it is currently undergoing a burst of star formation. We also see the galactic wind that is pushing out perpendicular to the disk.

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 giant solar prominence as seen along the limb of the Sun. These occur when material from the solar surface is lifted by the Sun's magnetic field and then rains back down on the surface. These can easily be larger than our own planet!

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 largest of the two moons of Mars with the planet in the background. Phobos is in a very low and decaying orbit and will eventually end up crashing into the planet and being destroyed in about 50 million years.

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 spiral shaped aurora over Iceland. The aurora are caused when charged particles from our Sun strike Earth's magnetic field and are funneled along toward the magnetic poles. Larger events from the Sun known as Coronal Mass Ejections could cause significant damage to electronics and our electric grid if they strike Earth directly. This last happened in 1859 in what is known as the Carrington Event.

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 by Neil Armstrong showing Buzz Aldrin setting up an experiment to capture some particles of the solar wind. These particles were returned to Earth along with samples of moon rocks for further study.

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 newly formed star system consisting of a pair of young stars which are expelling material in jets. The material in these jets strikes the gas and dust around them at high speeds creating what are called Herbig-Haro 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 a distorted spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Eridanus - the River. The distortion is caused by the gravitational interaction of the galaxy with a smaller, dwarf galaxy just above it in the image. Eventually these will combine together as the larger galaxy will consume the smaller one.

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 Prawn Nebula. This is an example of an emission nebula where gas is excited by ultraviolet radiation from hot, young stars and caused 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.