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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня APOD: 2026 August 18 Б Perseids from Perseus http://www.astronet.ru/db/msg/2037877 |
Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuецk
Explanation:
This was a good year for the
Perseids meteor shower.
A key reason was
the Moon was absent from lighting up
Earth's night sky so that
more meteors were visible than usual.
Where was the Moon?
It was busy
visiting the Sun.
Near the Perseids peak, the Moon moved directly in front of the Sun and created a total
solar eclipse visible from
Greenland and
Spain.
The Perseids occur when the Earth collides with a
stream of Sun-orbiting debris cast off by
Comet Swift-Tuttle.
Perseid meteors, although typically only the size of a
sand grain,
tend to be fast and bright because Swift-Tuttle's debris orbits
the Sun in a direction partly opposite Earth's orbital motion.
In the
featured image compilation, accumulated over several nights from
Jizerka in the
Czech Republic, the Perseids meteor streaks can be traced back to a single location on the sky -- its
radiant in
Perseus.
Gallery:
Perseids Meteor Shower of 2026
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day