Astronomy Picture of the Day - December 1st, 2021 - A Blue-Banded Blood Moon (Narrated by Salli) What causes a blue band to cross the Moon during a lunar eclipse? The blue band is real but usually quite hard to see. The featured HDR image of last week's lunar eclipse, however -- taken from Yancheng, China -- has been digitally processed to equalize the Moon's brightness and exaggerate the colors. The gray color of the bottom right is the Moon's natural color, directly illuminated by sunlight. The upper left part of the Moon is not directly lit by the Sun since it is being eclipsed -- it in the Earth's shadow. It is faintly lit, though, by sunlight that has passed deep through Earth's atmosphere. This part of the Moon is red -- and called a blood Moon -- for the same reason that Earth's sunsets are red: because air scatters away more blue light than red. The unusual blue band is different -- its color is created by sunlight that has passed high through Earth's atmosphere, where red light is better absorbed by ozone than blue. A total eclipse of the Sun will occur tomorrow but, unfortunately, totality be visible only near the Earth's South Pole. Almost Hyperspace: Random APOD Generator Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211201.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieAo7c3Qp-I

Astronomy Picture of the Day - February 13th, 2020 - Spitzer's Trifid (Narrated by Joanna) The Trifid Nebula, also known as Messier 20, is easy to find with a small telescope. About 30 light-years across and 5,500 light-years distant it's a popular stop for cosmic tourists in the nebula rich constellation Sagittarius. As its name suggests, visible light pictures show the nebula divided into three parts by dark, obscuring dust lanes. But this penetrating infrared image reveals the Trifid's filaments of glowing dust clouds and newborn stars. The spectacular false-color view is courtesy of the Spitzer Space Telescope. Astronomers have used the infrared image data to count newborn and embryonic stars which otherwise can lie hidden in the natal dust and gas clouds of this intriguing stellar nursery. Launched in 2003, Spitzer explored the infrared Universe from an Earth-trailing solar orbit until its science operations were brought to a close earlier this year, on January 30. Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200213.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujiDLnApJK8

Astronomy Picture of the Day - August 18th, 2022 - Full Moon Perseids (Narrated by Joanna) The annual Perseid meteor shower was near its peak on August 13. As planet Earth crossed through streams of debris left by periodic Comet Swift-Tuttle meteors rained in northern summer night skies. But even that night's nearly Full Moon shining near the top of this composited view couldn't hide all of the popular shower's meteor streaks. The image captures some of the brightest perseid meteors in many short exposures recorded over more than two hours before the dawn. It places the shower's radiant in the heroic constellation of Perseus just behind a well-lit medieval tower in the village of Sant Llorenc de la Muga, Girona, Spain. Observed in medieval times, the Perseid meteor shower is also known in Catholic tradition as the Tears of St. Lawrence, and festivities are celebrated close to the annual peak of the meteor shower. Joining the Full Moon opposite the Sun, bright planet Saturn also shines in the frame at the upper right. Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220818.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y19hHXXcyGc

Astronomy Picture of the Day - January 2nd, 2023 - After Sunset Planet Parade (Narrated by Emma) Look up tonight and see a whole bunch of planets. Just after sunset, looking west, planets Venus, Saturn, Jupiter and Mars will all be simultaneously visible. Listed west to east, this planetary lineup will have Venus nearest the horizon, but setting shortly after the Sun. It doesn't matter where on Earth you live because this early evening planet parade will be visible through clear skies all around the globe. Taken late last month, the featured image captured all of these planets and more: the Moon and planet Mercury were also simultaneously visible. Below visibility were the planets Neptune and Uranus, making this a nearly all-planet panorama. In the foreground are hills around the small village of Gökçeören, Kaş, Turkey, near the Mediterranean coast. Bright stars Altair, Fomalhaut, and Aldebaran are also prominent, as well as the Pleiades star cluster. Venus will rise higher in the sky at sunset as January continues, but Saturn will descend. Image Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230102.html This video was auto generated using data from NASA Open API. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpFKskUVaSY