Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]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 21
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                               Mostly Perseids
              Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Klaus Pillwatsch

   Explanation: [5]In this predawn skyscape recorded during the early
   morning hours of August 13, mostly Perseid meteors are raining down on
   planet Earth. [6]You can easily identify the Perseid meteor streaks.
   They're the ones with trails that seem to converge on the [7]annual
   meteor shower's radiant, a spot in the heroic constellation Perseus,
   located off the top of the frame. That's the direction in Earth's sky
   that looks along the orbit of this meteor shower's parent, periodic
   [8]Comet Swift-Tuttle. Of course the scene is a composite, a
   combination of about 500 digital exposures to capture meteors
   registered with a single base frame exposure. But all exposures were
   taken during a period of around 2.5 hours from a wind farm near
   Mönchhof, Burgenland, Austria. Red lights on the individual wind
   turbine towers dot the foreground. In their [9]spectacular close
   conjunction, bright planets Jupiter and Venus are poised above the
   [10]eastern horizon.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Amber Straughn [26]Specific rights apply.
            [27]NASA Web Privacy, [28]Accessibility, [29]Notices;
                A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC,
                         [33]NASA Science Activation
                           & [34]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2508/20250813_035050-TL4IMG_7698nebulb7331-7833ss_2048.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. https://www.instagram.com/p_i_k_a_s_s/
   5. https://www.instagram.com/p_i_k_a_s_s/p/DNiH8mztIPq/
   6. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250802.html
   7. https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/watch-the-skies/2025/08/08/bright-moonlight-could-interfere-with-view-of-perseids-peak/
   8. https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/109p-swift-tuttle/
   9. https://earthsky.org/todays-image/venus-and-jupiter/
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250815.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250820.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.com/feed.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250821
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250822.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/
  30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  31. https://www.nasa.gov/
  32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  33. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  34. http://www.mtu.edu/