Astronomy Picture Of The Day

Every morning, NASA posts an “Astronomy Picture of the Day.”

Each one highlights a different image or photograph of the universe, with a brief explanation from a professional astronomer.

Yesterday, the photo of the day featured a panorama of Mars. The day before there was a volcano and aurora in Iceland; before that, a “gravitational tractor” that could intercept an earth-threatening asteroid.

Today’s “Astronomy Picture of the Day” shows Westport native (and Staples graduate) Matt Harding dancing in Afghanistan.

The text reads:

What are these humans doing? Dancing.

Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend political boundaries and occur in practically every human society.

Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, planned on dancing, and filmed the result. The video, the latest in a series of similar videos, is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious — few people are able to watch the above video without smiling.

Last month — the day after it was released — “06880” featured Matt Harding’s now-viral video.

It’s pretty cool that NASA — with millions more viewers “all over planet Earth” — has finally done the same.

To view Matt’s complete video, click the arrow below.