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.

2022 August 16
The featured image shows a composite image capturing many meteor streaks above the ruins of an ancient village.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Meteor Wind over Tunisia
Image Credit & Copyright: Makrem Larnaout

Is the Earth capable of passing through a wind of meteorites? They are often visible as meteorite showers. Most meteorites are sand-sized debris that escaped from a comet or asteroid and travels around the Sun in an elliptical pattern. Our Earth can move through a debris stream where it can be seen over time as a meteorite. The meteorites that light up in the sky are usually destroyed. All of their streaks can be traced back to a single point on the sky. During the peak of the Southern Delta Aquariids meteor shower, the featured image was taken near the ancient Berber village of Zriba El Alia in Tunisia. The image is to the left. The peak of the meteor wind was experienced a few days ago on our planet.

Tomorrow's picture: stargate milky way < | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.


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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.

2022 August 17
The featured image shows a circular ring of stars that is a
projection of the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy. In the foreground
are rocks and cacti from the high desert in Chile.
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

Stargate Milky Way
Image Credit & Copyright: Maxime Oudoux

You pass through a gate of stars twice a day. It is the spin of the Earth that propels you through the stargate. A faint band stretching across the sky, only visible in away from bright city lights, is what the central band of our Milky Way looks like. The central plane of the Milky Way can be seen in a wide-angle image from a dark place. A stereographic projection that causes the Milky Way to appear as a giant circular portal was used to create the featured picture. There is a faint stripe of zodiacal light inside the stargate-like arcs of our solar system. cacti and dry rocks are found in the rough terrain of the high desert of Chile, not far from the El Sauce Observatory and the Vera Rubin Observatory, which are expected to begin operations in 2024.

Tomorrow's picture: open space

< | Archive | Submissions | Index | Search | Calendar | RSS | Education | About APOD | Discuss | >

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation
& Michigan Tech. U.