                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2025 August 12
    A starfield is shown above a grassy field with hills on the horizon.
    The band of our Milky Way Galaxy arches across toward the right. Many
    streaks appear emanating out from a place on the Milky Way just above
   the horizon. Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

                            Perseids from Perseus
                Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński

   Explanation: Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of
   direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of
   Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tonight is known as
   the Perseids -- the meteors all appear to come from a radiant toward
   Perseus. In terms of parent body, though, the sand-sized debris that
   makes up the Perseids meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet
   follows a well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the orbit
   that approaches Earth is superposed in front of Perseus. Therefore,
   when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris
   appears in Perseus. Featured here, a composite image taken over six
   nights and containing over 100 meteors from 2024 August Perseids meteor
   shower shows many bright meteors that streaked over the Bieszczady
   Mountains in Poland. This year's Perseids, usually one of the best
   meteor showers of the year, will compete with a bright moon that will
   rise, for many locations, soon after sunset.

                  Tomorrow's picture: orion's stellar heart
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

