**Astronomy Picture of the Day**
13 January 2026
**Meteor Dust**
Image Credit: Xu Chen
Explanation:
What's happening to this meteor?
It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the
Earth's atmosphere and heats up.
The sudden high temperatures not only cause the bright glow along the
dramatic streak but also
melt and vaporize the
meteor's component rock and ice, creating dust.
Wind in the atmosphere typically
blows this dust away
over the next few seconds, leaving
no visible trace after only a few minutes.
Much of this dust will
eventually settle down to the
Earth.
The featured image was captured in mid-December,
coincident with the
Geminids meteor shower.
On the upper left is Sirius, the
brightest star in the night sky,
while in the foreground is fog-engulfed
Huangshan,
the Yellow Mountains of eastern
China.
#APOD #Astrogeek lookUp #Astronomy #NASA
Image Credit: Xu Chen
Explanation:
What's happening to this meteor?
It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the
Earth's atmosphere and heats up.
The sudden high temperatures not only cause the bright glow along the
dramatic streak but also
melt and vaporize the
meteor's component rock and ice, creating dust.
Wind in the atmosphere typically
blows this dust away
over the next few seconds, leaving
no visible trace after only a few minutes.
Much of this dust will
eventually settle down to the
Earth.
The featured image was captured in mid-December,
coincident with the
Geminids meteor shower.
On the upper left is Sirius, the
brightest star in the night sky,
while in the foreground is fog-engulfed
Huangshan,
the Yellow Mountains of eastern
China.
#APOD #Astrogeek lookUp #Astronomy #NASA
APOD: 2026 January 12 – Meteor Dust
A different astronomy and space science
related image is featured each day, along with a brief explanation.
Image Credit: NASA, JPL, Caltech, SSC, R. Kennicutt, Steward Obs.
Explanation:
This floating ring is the size of a galaxy.
In fact, it is a galaxy -- or at least part of one: the photogenic
Sombrero Galaxy,
one of the largest galaxies in the nearby
Virgo Cluster of Galaxies.
The dark band of
dust that obscures the mid-section of the
Sombrero Galaxy in
visible light actually
glows brightly in
infrared light.
The featured image, digitally
sharpened, shows the
infrared glow, recently recorded by the orbiting
Spitzer Space Telescope, superposed in false-color on an
existing image taken by
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in
visible light.
The Sombrero
Galaxy, also known as
M104, spans about 50,000
light years and lies 28 million light years away.
M104
can be seen with a small telescope in the direction of the
constellation Virgo.
#APOD #Astroeducation #Cosmos #Science #NASAInspires
Image Credit: Christopher Go
Explanation:
Jupiter reaches
its 2026 opposition today, January 10.
That puts our Solar System's
most massive planet
opposite the
Sun and near its closest and brightest for viewing from planet Earth.
In fact, captured only 3 days ago this sharp
telescopic snapshot
reveals excellent details of the ruling gas giant's
swirling cloudtops,
in light zones and dark belts girdling the
rapidly rotating outer planet.
Jupiter's famous, persistent anticyclonic vortex, known as the
Great Red Spot,
is south of the equator at the lower right.
But two smaller red spots are also visible, one near the top in the
northernmost zone, and one close to Jupiter's south pole.
And while Jupiter's Great Red Spot is
known to be shrinking,
it's still about the size of the Earth itself.
#APOD #Jupiter #GreatRedSpot #SolarSystem #Opposition2026 #SpaceObservation
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai
The Full Moon is the brightest lunar phase, and tonight you can stand in the light of the first Full Moon of 2026. In fact, the Moon's full phase occurs on January 3 at 10:03 UTC, while only about 7 hours later planet Earth reaches its 2026 perihelion, the closest point in its elliptical orbit around the Sun, at 17:16 UTC. January's Full Moon was also not far from its own perigee, or closest approach to planet Earth. For this lunation the Moon's perigee was on January 1 at 21:44 UTC. You can also spot planet Jupiter, near its brightest for 2026 and close on the sky to the Full Moon tonight. But while you're out skygazing don't forget to look for rare, bright fireballs from the Quadrantid meteor shower.
#APOD #Astroeducation #Astroengineering #SpaceTech #Cosmology
Image Credit & Copyright: Ralf Vandebergh
In 2011, on January 20, NASA's NanoSail-D2 unfurled a very thin and very reflective 10 square meter sail becoming the first solar sail spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Often considered the stuff of science fiction, sailing through space was suggested 400 years ago by astronomer Johannes Kepler, who had observed comet tails blown by the solar wind. But modern solar sail spacecraft designs, like NanoSail-D2, Japan's interplanetary spacecraft IKAROS, or the Planetary Society's Lightsail A, rely on the small but continuous pressure from sunlight itself for thrust. Glinting in the sunlight as it circled planet Earth, NanoSail-D2's solar sail was periodically bright and visible to the eye. These remarkably detailed images were captured by manually tracking the orbiting solar sail spacecraft with a small telescope.
#APOD #SpaceAdventures #Stellar #Planets #MeteorShowers
Image Credit & Copyright: Roi Levi
Cycle 25 solar maximum made 2025 a great year for aurora borealis (or aurora australis) on planet Earth. And the high level of solar activity should extend into 2026. So, while you're celebrating the arrival of the new year, check out this spectacular auroral display that erupted in starry night skies over Kirkjufell, Iceland. The awesome auroral corona, energetic curtains of light streaming from directly overhead, was witnessed during a strong geomagnetic storm triggered by intense solar activity near the March 2025 equinox. This northland and skyscape captures the evocative display in a 21 frame panoramic mosaic.
#APOD #StarCluster #RocketScience #SpaceTechnology #SpaceObservatory
Image Credit & Copyright:
Mike Selby
What created the Waterfall Nebula? The origin is still being researched. The structure, officially designated Herbig-Haro 222, appears in the region of NGC 1999 in the Great Orion Molecular Cloud complex. The elongated gaseous stream stretches about ten light years but appears similar to a long waterfall on Earth. Recent observations indicate that HH-222 is likely a gigantic gaseous bow shock, similar to a wave of water caused by a fast-moving ship. The origin of this shock wave is thought to be a jet outflow from the multiple star system V380 Orionis off the lower left of the frame. Therefore, gas does not flow along the waterfall, but rather the entire structure moves toward the upper right. The Waterfall Nebula lies about 1,500 light years away toward the constellation of Orion. The featured image was captured earlier this month from El Sauce Observatory in Chile. Jigsaw Nebula: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
#APOD #Galaxy #Space #Stellar #SpaceResearch
Image Credit & Copyright:
Wang Chao
Yes, but can your comet tail do this? No, and what you are seeing is not the tail of a comet. The picture features a cleverly overlayed time-lapse sequence of a group of satellites orbiting Earth together in June. Specifically, these are Starlink communications satellites in low Earth orbit reflecting back sunlight before sunrise to Inner Mongolia, China. Although the satellites appear to the human eye as points, the 20-second-long camera exposures caused them to appear as short streaks. Currently there are over 9000 Starlinks in orbit, with more being launched nearly every week. Other satellite constellations are also being planned. Explore the Universe: Random APOD Generator
#APOD #Astrogeology #Cosmos #Astrochemistry #Cosmological