Episodes

A favorable lunar libration reveals mountains near the Moon's south pole. Nearby sunlit high ground and permanently shadowed cold traps help explain the region's importance for water-ice research and future human exploration. 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 above the image to select the p...

This portrait of Swift is built from the astronomical images it collected. We look back at its rapid response to cosmic explosions, how solar activity accelerated its orbital decay, and the scientific archive that outlives the spacecraft. 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 above the image to...

Cassini's backlit view reveals icy plumes escaping from Enceladus. These jets replenish Saturn's E ring and offer clues to a hidden ocean that makes this small moon a compelling target in the search for habitable environments. 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 above the image to select the ...

IC 342 is called the Hidden Galaxy because Milky Way dust and foreground stars complicate our view. This detailed portrait reveals its spiral arms and star-forming regions while showing why foreground material matters when interpreting distant galaxies. 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 abo...

Comet Pan-STARRS shares the sky with a colorful meteor in this photograph from France. Their chance alignment introduces comet tails, glowing meteors, and the comet debris behind November's meteor showers. 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding t...

A vast water-ice cloud stretches downwind of the Martian volcano Arsia Mons. Its seasonal morning cycle—and a proposed way for ice to form without dust seeds—offers a striking test of cloud physics on another world. 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 above the image to select the photo corre...

A spiral of full-moon photographs shows how differently our familiar Moon can appear. Earth's atmosphere changes the colors we see, from warm horizon views to the red glow of a lunar 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. You can use the archive link above the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of ...

Ghostly geothermal plumes rise beneath green auroras in Iceland. This Halloween scene reveals two energy sources at work: Earth’s internal heat and solar energy interacting with its magnetic environment. 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding to ...

The Iris and Ghost Nebulae stand out among dusty clouds in Cepheus. Explore how microscopic interstellar grains scatter and obscure starlight—and how these clouds can nurture new 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this p...

Venus can show a thin crescent much like the Moon. Its unusually long horns reveal how sunlight interacts with the planet’s thick atmosphere near an alignment with Earth and the Sun. 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding to the date of this podc...

Watch Jupiter’s moons Ganymede and Io appear to meet as one passes in front of the other. Their alignment and Ganymede’s shadow on Jupiter show two different ways that orbiting bodies can line up. 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding to the dat...

Why can noctilucent clouds shine above a dark Swedish landscape? These exceptionally high ice clouds reveal how sunlight, Earth’s curvature, and the cold upper atmosphere combine to create a summer twilight display. 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 above the image to select the photo corre...

Explore the Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery in Orion’s sword, and the young stars that make its gas glow. We also look at how filtered observations and image processing reveal its structure. 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding to the da...

This computer simulation visualizes dark matter filaments and concentrations of ordinary matter in a cosmic web. We explore the gravitational evidence behind the model, what simulations test, and why dark matter's physical identity remains unknown. 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 above th...

Rosetta's selfie was taken by a camera on its still-attached Philae lander, with comet 67P beyond the spacecraft's solar array. Two exposures reveal the contrasting brightness of the scene and introduce the mission's complementary observations from nearby space and the comet's surface. 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....

Andromeda hangs low above Australian hills in this composite of tracked, stacked sky exposures and a separate foreground photograph. The scene shows how observing latitude and photographic techniques shape our view of a neighboring galaxy. 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 above the image t...

This illustration depicts a white dwarf whose spectrum predicts a green appearance to human eyes. Its dense, sodium-rich atmosphere changes the balance of escaping light, revealing an unusual exception to familiar stellar colors. 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 above the image to select t...

Deep imaging around the Ghosts of Cassiopeia reveals three faint oxygen-emitting structures. Their possible origins show the difference between discovering an object and establishing what powers it. 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 above the image to select the photo corresponding to the d...

A partial rainbow and a golden fan of anticrepuscular rays make sunlight seem to originate from the wrong side of the sky. Raindrops, cloud shadows, and perspective explain why the real Sun is behind the camera. 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 above the image to select the photo correspon...

The Treble Clef's looping radio structure sits within hot, X-ray-emitting gas in a merging galaxy cluster. Combined observations suggest that the collision revived particles left behind by an earlier black-hole outburst. 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 above the image to select the photo ...

The Eagle Nebula's Pillars of Creation become an audible experience as telescope image data are translated into sound. Listen to a complete sonification, then explore how the mapping makes astronomical structures accessible in another way. 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 above the image t...

Rosetta's close-up view of Comet 67P reveals a rugged nucleus releasing jets of material near the Sun. Following the comet over time showed scientists how its landscape changes and what its escaping gas and dust contain. 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 above the image to select the photo ...

A predawn Falcon 9 launch shares the sky with the International Space Station as a sunlit exhaust plume expands overhead. This timelapse shows the contrast between a cargo spacecraft heading toward orbit and a reusable booster returning to Earth. 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 above the ...

A near-infrared camera reveals the Milky Way above Manhattan's bright skyline. By rejecting much of the city's visible-light glow while retaining infrared starlight, the photograph shows how wavelength selection can improve astronomical contrast. 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 above the ...