NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day

In today's image, we seen image of our Moon which has been enhanced to bring out some of the detail that is normally not visible. We can see the two different regions of our Moon - the maria and the highlands which are the darker and lighter regions respectively. In addition, color coding is used to show regions enriched in iron (blue) and aluminum (orange).

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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.

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In today's image, we see the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant left behind from the explosion of a massive star which was observed on Earth back in 1054. Many of the elements heavier that hydrogen and helium are produced in stars and during the explosion itself and expelled out into space to become the seed material for new stars. Many element in our bodies were formed in explosions just like this billions of years ago.

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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 our Sun imaged on January 4 which was the time of perihelion. Perihelion is the time in an orbit when an object (in this case, Earth) is closet to the Sun. While this is then we are closest to the Sun in our orbit, it has nothing to do with the changing seasons which are causes by the 23.5 degree tilt of Earth on its rotational axis.

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 young star cluster known as NGC 346 which is located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way. We see the star cluster as well as gas and dust where stars continue to form. Because the star cluster is over 200,000 light years way, we see it not as it looks today but as it was 200,000 years ago. The image is from the James Webb Space Telescope.

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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 a region in the constellation of Perseus in which stars are currently forming. We see a young cluster of stars and a good amount of dust regions where stars are currently in the process of formation.

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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 an aurora over Iceland. The aurora are caused when charged particles from our Sun strike Earth's magnetic field and are funneled toward the poles. These then interact with oxygen atoms in Earth's atmosphere giving off a green glow. Aurorae will become more prominent and more intense over the next few years as our Sun reaches a peak of its activity cycle.

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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 the Cone Nebula, also known as NGC 2264. This is an example of a star forming region. The Cone Nebula is being shaped and sculpted by a massive star not visible here, but just off the top of the image. The red glow in the image is due to the glow of hydrogen gas.

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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 Comet ZTF including its due and ion tails stretching out into space. The comet will be closest to our Sun this coming week and may be visible without binoculars.

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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 a periodic table of the elements. These are color coded based on our best estimate based on observations and calculations as to the origin of that specific element. We see that elements like hydrogen and helium were primarily formed in the Big Bang. Others like oxygen were formed in dying stars and Gold and Silver in colliding neutron stars.

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 two space stations moving across the sky - The International Space Station below and the Tiangong Space Station above. These are both in low Earth orbit and circle Earth in less than two hours. In the sky, we see the Big and Little Dippers and the constellation of Cassiopeia, two circumpolar constellations for many northerly latitudes.

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.