Episodes

In today's image, we see the large sunspot group known as AR 3664 which has been very active recently, sending solar flares and coronal mass ejection in the direction of Earth and giving up so beautiful auroral displays. 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 ...

In today's image, we see the red aurora as observed over Poland. The aurora have been especially strong the past couple of days because of the numerous coronal mass ejections from the large sunspot group currently moving across the face of 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 below th...

In today's image, we see the giant sunspot group AR 3664 which is currently crossing the face of the Sun. Sunspots are active regions on the Sun, slightly cooler than the surrounding surface. They are also associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections when can affect us here on Earth and also contribute to auroral activity. 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 w...

In today's image, we see a simulation showing the merger of two black holes. This simulation depicts what would have been happening during the first detection of gravitational waves in 2015. As the black holes spiral together, their rapid motion releases gravitation waves that we were able to detect at a distance of 1.3 billion light 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 imag...

In today's image, we see the giant elliptical galaxy, M87. In addition, we see images of the central jets and the famous image from 2017 by the Event Horizon Telescope of the supermassive black hole at the center of the 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 below the image to select the...

In today's image, we see an animation which shows the central regions around a black hole including the accretion disk. The 15-second video allows us to look at this from different orientations to see the differences that are visible. 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 sel...

In today's image, we see an artist's conception of an event observed in 2014. A massive explosion was observed which has since been modeled as a star being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. Here we see that as the material from the star is added to an accretion disk around the black hole. We also see jets of material expelled perpendicular to the accretion disk. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel. This Podcast is an authorized New Media Mirror Site fo...

In today's image, we see time-lapse of the total solar eclipse of April 8 of this year. We will see the Moon appear in the lower right and move to full cover the Sun, allowing us to see the solar corona. 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 ...

In today's image, we see an artist's conception of what would happen as a black hole tears apart a passing star. Once the material crosses the event horizon, nothing can be known about it. However, material will often swirl in an accretion disk as it enters the black hole, giving off energy and allowing us to detect the black hole's presence. 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 im...

In today's image, we see three Auxiliary Telescopes which are used with the VLT telescopes to simulate larger mirrors using interferometry. This allows observations from different telescope to be combined together to simulate the resolution of a much larger telescope. 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 a...

In today's image, we see an illustration of the orbit of the exoplanet WASP-43b. This is a nearby planet, less than 300 light years from Earth. It is an example of a "Hot Jupiter" - a large planet which orbits very close to its star. Measurement from the James Webb Space Telescope are helping us to learn more about the temperatures in the atmosphere of this planet. 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 the spiral galaxy known as M100 - this is an example of what is called a grand design spiral galaxy for its majestic spiral arms. We not the blue and pink color of the spiral arms. The blue is the light of many massive, hot blue stars that have formed within the spiral arms. The pick is the glow of hydrogen gas that is energized by the ultraviolet light from these stars. My podcasts are available in video form through this YouTube Channel. This Podcast is an authorized...

In today's image, we see the star forming region known as the Fishhead Nebula and also by its catalog designation of IC 1795. This region has been images using the Hubble Palette of colors which looks at the emission of three elements - oxygen, hydrogen, and sulfur and maps them to the colors blue, green, and red respectively. 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 GK Per which was seen to explode as a nova back in 1901. A nova occurs when material builds up on the surface of a white dwarf star and becomes sufficient for thermonuclear reactions to ignite on the surface, temporarily brightening the star. 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 ar...

In today's image, we see the comet known as Pons-Brooks which has no rounded the Sun and is beginning its journey back to the outer solar system. In addition, we see a thin crescent moon and the two planets - Jupiter and Uranus. 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 th...

In today's image, we see a very deep image of the Ring Nebula as observed by multiple large telescopes. This allows for the imaging of fainter rings around the traditional Ring Nebula we normally observe. Learning more about this type of nebula will help us to better understand the final fate of stars like our own 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...

In today's image, we see an all sky image of the eclipse of April 8. The outer portion shows the horizon while the central circular region shows the entire sky visible from this location. In the sky, we can see the fully eclipsed Sun as well as two planets - Venus and Jupiter with one visible on either side of our 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...

In today's image, we see the bright star Regulus which is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo. We see almost all stars as points of light because of their relatively small sizes compared to their great distances from us. We also see the Leo I dwarf spheroidal galaxy below Regulus. This is a galaxy in our own Local Group of 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 i...

In today's image, we see a large star forming region in the galaxy M33: The Triangulum Galaxy. This is one of the spiral galaxies in our own Local Group of galaxies. The star forming region is one of the larger known in the Local Group, the largest being he Tarantula Nebula within the Large Magellanic Cloud. 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: Astron...

In today's image, we see an example of an emission nebula around a hot massive star. The ultraviolet light from the star excites the gases around it and causes them to glow. Patterns in the gas can be caused by motions of the star itself which has a stellar companion as well as effects from he magnetic field of the star itself. 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 two contrails from airplanes that cross in the sky. Because of the positioning of the Sun and upper clouds, we also see the shadows cast by these contrails which form an X on the clouds above. 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 cor...

In today's image, we see a thin waning crescent moon in the sky over Mt. Etna. We also see smoke rings from the volcano - this is a rare effect that occurs only when conditions in both the volcano and the atmosphere are just right. 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...

In today's image, we see a time-lapse video clip from the Juno spacecraft as it made its 16 close approach to the planet Jupiter. Juno has a highly elliptical orbit which allows it to come in briefly to study the planet's cloud structures, but spend most of its time well away from the intense radiation near the 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...

In today's image, we see several images of the total solar eclipse which occurred on April 8. The central page showing details of the solar corona only visible during an eclipse. The other two images show what is known as the diamond ring effect which occurs just before and after a total eclipse when only a tiny portion of the Sun is visible. 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 im...