                        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.

                               2026 August 18
      A starfield is bounded by trees on three sides and a pond on the
      bottom. Amongst the stars are many streaks of light appearing to
   emanate from a place on the sky just above a foreground bridge. Please
             see the explanation for more detailed information.

                            Perseids from Perseus
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák

   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
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
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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.

