In today's image, we see the spectrum of the Sun. When light is passed through a prism or similar device, it is split into its component colors. The lines we see are from different elements allowing us to determine the composition of stars and the Sun. In the 1870s, helium was discovered in the Sun before it was known on 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 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: wagnerastronomy@gmail.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.