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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Perseids Over a little Planet
NASA ^ | 12 Aug, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Marcin Rosadziński Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

Posted on 08/12/2026 12:42:22 PM PDT by MtnClimber

Explanation: It looks like a view from the Little Prince's planet. The featured image is a throwback to the 2024 Perseid meteor shower, surrounded in this projection by the Bieszczady Mountains in Poland. Visible in the sky is the arch of the Milky Way, along with several nebulas in red and over a hundred meteors pointing to the radiant. The Perseids are easily visible and quite popular in the Northern Hemisphere summer. (Watching meteor showers in the winter is less convenient for a good reason). This year they are expected to offer an even more dazzling spectacle than usual, because the peak coincides with a new moon. The 2026 Perseid meteor shower will peak tonight with as many as 50-100 meteors per hour, when the Earth's path crosses through debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. Typically, the best times for seeing the meteors are between midnight and pre-dawn. You won't need binoculars to see the meteors, but a lawn chair and a dark sky location help.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

1 posted on 08/12/2026 12:42:22 PM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

2 posted on 08/12/2026 12:42:52 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; A Navy Vet; A_perfect_lady; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; ...
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

3 posted on 08/12/2026 12:43:40 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Excellent, how it illustrates the source.

Brings back nice memories of watching the Perseids as a kid with family.


4 posted on 08/12/2026 12:45:55 PM PDT by simpson96
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To: MtnClimber

Wow.


5 posted on 08/12/2026 1:37:57 PM PDT by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: MtnClimber

I missed them again, darnit…..


6 posted on 08/12/2026 3:07:57 PM PDT by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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To: MtnClimber
Looks like a garbage truck's fork grabbing a garbage can...


7 posted on 08/12/2026 4:15:55 PM PDT by Deaf and Discerning
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To: telescope115

The peak is tonight, Aug 12-13. Between midnight and dawn.


8 posted on 08/12/2026 5:28:02 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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