Astronomy Picture of the Day - January 15th, 2022 - Galileo's Europa (Narrated by Emma) Looping through the Jovian system in the late 1990s, the Galileo spacecraft recorded stunning views of Europa and uncovered evidence that the moon's icy surface likely hides a deep, global ocean. Galileo's Europa image data has been remastered here, with improved calibrations to produce a color image approximating what the human eye might see. Europa's long curving fractures hint at the subsurface liquid water. The tidal flexing the large moon experiences in its elliptical orbit around Jupiter supplies the energy to keep the ocean liquid. But more tantalizing is the possibility that even in the absence of sunlight that process could also supply the energy to support life, making Europa one of the best places to look for life beyond Earth. What kind of life could thrive in a deep, dark, subsurface ocean? Consider planet Earth's own extreme shrimp. Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220115.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqmh-6N34KA

Astronomy Picture of the Day - December 6th, 2019 - Pleiades to Hyades (Narrated by Brian) This cosmic vista stretches almost 20 degrees from top to bottom, across the dusty constellation Taurus. It begins at the Pleiades and ends at the Hyades, two star clusters recognized since antiquity in Earth's night sky. At top, the compact Pleiades star cluster is about 400 light-years away. The lovely grouping of young cluster stars shine through dusty clouds that scatter blue starlight. At bottom, the V-shaped Hyades cluster looks more spread out in comparison and lies much closer, 150 light-years away. The Hyades cluster stars seem anchored by bright Aldebaran, a red giant star with a yellowish appearance. But Aldebaran actually lies only 65 light-years distant and just by chance along the line of sight to the Hyades cluster. Faint and darkly obscuring dust clouds found near the edge of the Taurus Molecular Cloud are also evident throughout the celestial scene. The wide field of view includes the dark nebula Barnard 22 at left with youthful star T Tauri and Hind's variable nebula just above Aldebaran in the frame. Image Credit & Copyright: Amir H. Abolfath Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191206.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyld8byuktU

Wikipedia Picture of the Day - April 30th, 2023 - Street Musicians at the Door (Narrated by Emma) Street Musicians at the Door is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Golden Age artist Jacob Ochtervelt, painted in Rotterdam in 1665. It depicts a mother, child and maid from a wealthy family interacting with two musicians at the door of their house. The musicians are playing a violin and a hurdy-gurdy. It is an example of an "entrance hall painting", a genre pioneered by Ochtervelt. The work is now in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri. Painting credit: Jacob Ochtervelt Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:POTD/2023-04-30 This video was auto generated using data and media from Wikipedia. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3r4RDuQFP4

Astronomy Picture of the Day - April 9th, 2021 - Messier 106 (Narrated by Brian) Close to the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and surrounded by the stars of the Hunting Dogs (Canes Venatici), this celestial wonder was discovered in 1781 by the metric French astronomer Pierre Mechain. Later, it was added to the catalog of his friend and colleague Charles Messier as M106. Modern deep telescopic views reveal it to be an island universe - a spiral galaxy around 30 thousand light-years across located only about 21 million light-years beyond the stars of the Milky Way. Along with a bright central core, this stunning galaxy portrait, a composite of image data from amateur and professional telescopes, highlights youthful blue star clusters and reddish stellar nurseries tracing the galaxy's spiral arms. It also shows off remarkable reddish jets of glowing hydrogen gas. In addition to small companion galaxy NGC 4248 at bottom right, background galaxies can be found scattered throughout the frame. M106, also known as NGC 4258, is a nearby example of the Seyfert class of active galaxies, seen across the spectrum from radio to X-rays. Active galaxies are powered by matter falling into a massive central black hole. Image Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210409.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrhOTaYYY-w