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  1. #apod 2026-08-22
    Mostly Perseids
    Image Credit: Valašské Meziříčí Observatory
    Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260822.html

  2. Mostly Perseids
    Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Koukal (Valašské Meziříčí Observatory)

    Explanation: Recorded the night of August 12-13, images from four dedicated meteor-monitoring cameras at an astronomical observatory in Czechia were aligned and combined to create this all-night, all-sky view. On that night, the total count came to 1,706 meteors. And since that coincided with the peak activity of the 2026 Perseid Meteor Shower, most are perseids. Their overwhelming numbers make them easy to spot. Quite convincingly, perseid trails all trace back to a single radiant on the sky at the upper right, a region in the annual shower's eponymous constellation Perseus. But meteors belonging to other much less active showers can also revealed by finding their radiants too. For example, seen crossing the perseid trails are meteors from a shower whose radiant lies in Cygnus, known as Kappa Cygnids. The antihelion complex, a general region near Aquarius and opposite the Sun in the sky, is also identifiable as a weak source for meteors.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260822.html #apod

  3. Astronomy photo of the day: Mostly Perseids.
    Copyright: Valašské Meziříčí Observatory

    Explanation: Recorded the night of August 12-13, images from four dedicated meteor-monitoring cameras at an astronomical observatory in Czechia were aligned and combined to create this all-night, all-sky view. On that night, the total count came to 1,706 meteors

    #APOD

  4. 2026 August 22

    Mostly Perseids
    * Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Koukal Valašské Meziříčí Observatory
    astrovm.cz/cz/

    Explanation:
    Recorded all during the night of August 12-13, images from four dedicated meteor-monitoring cameras at an astronomical observatory in Czechia were aligned and combined to create this single allsky view. On that night, the total meteor count came to 1,706 meteors. And since that night coincided with the activity peak of the 2026 Perseid Meteor Shower, most are perseids. Their overwhelming numbers make them easy to spot. Quite convincingly, perseid trails all trace back to a single radiant on the sky at the upper right, identified as a region in the annual shower's eponymous constellation Perseus. But meteors belonging to other much less active showers can be revealed by finding their radiants too. For example, seen crossing the perseid trails are meteors from a shower whose radiant lies in Cygnus, known as Kappa Cygnids. The antihelion complex, a general region near Aquarius and opposite the Sun in the sky, is also identifiable as weak source for meteors.
    cementcz.eu/network-cement/
    amsmeteors.org/2026/08/meteor-
    science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260818.ht
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250725.ht
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250725.ht
    popastro.com/meteor/meteor-sho

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260822.ht

    #space #perseids #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #education #apod

  5. Time-Lapse of the Star S301 Orbiting the Black Hole in the Center of the Galaxy
    Image Credit & License: ESO/GRAVITY Collaboration/L. Calçada
    Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)

    Explanation: What does it feel like to zoom around a spinning supermassive black hole? The featured video is an animation showing a time-lapse of 4 years of observations of the star S301 orbiting Sagittarius A*, the 4-million-solar-mass black hole in the center of our Galaxy. S301 was discovered in 2023 with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Southern Observatory, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Astronomers recently found that S301 takes approximately 8.7 years to go around the black hole and reaches speeds of 25,000 km/s. It comes closer to the black hole than any other stars detected before, at a distance similar to that from Saturn to the Sun. Because it comes so close to Sagittarius A*, S301 could be used to directly measure how fast the black hole spins and test Einstein's theory of general relativity. According to the theory, a spinning black hole drags the fabric of spacetime around itself, affecting the orbits of close-by objects.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260821.html #apod

  6. 2026 August 21

    Time-Lapse of the S301 Star Orbiting Sagittarius A*
    * Image Credit & Copyright: ESO/GRAVITY Collaboration/L. Calçada
    eso.org/public/
    eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal
    luiscalcada.com/
    * Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)
    science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/

    Explanation:
    What does it feel like to zoom around a spinning supermassive black hole? The featured video shows a time-lapse of 4 years of observations of the S301 star orbiting Sagittarius A*, the 4-million-solar-mass black hole in the center of our galaxy. S301 was discovered in 2023 with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer of the European Southern Observatory, located in the Atacama Desert in Chile. Astronomers recently found that S301 takes approximately 8.7 years to go around and reaches speeds of 25,000 km/s. It comes closer to the black hole than any other stars detected before, similar to the distance from Saturn to the Sun. Because it comes so close to Sagittarius A*, S301 could be used to directly measure how fast the black hole spins and test Einstein's theory of general relativity. According to the theory, a spinning black hole drags the fabric of spacetime around itself, affecting the orbits of close-by objects.
    science.nasa.gov/universe/blac
    eso.org/public/videos/eso2612b/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220513.ht
    nature.com/articles/s41586-026
    eso.org/public/teles-instr/par
    eso.org/public/
    esa.int/Applications/Observing
    eso.org/public/news/eso2612/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070114.ht
    science.nasa.gov/saturn/
    science.nasa.gov/sun/
    nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/
    asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/in
    eso.org/public/videos/eso2612d/

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260821.ht

    #space #blackhole #astrophysics #astrophotography #photography #astronomy #science #nature #NASA #apod #ESA #ESO

  7. Trompe d'éléphant dans Céphée - Astronomy Picture of the Day - 20/08/2026

    La nébuleuse de la Trompe d'éléphant serpente à travers la région d'émission et le complexe d'amas d'étoiles jeunes IC 1396, dans la constellation élevée et lointaine de Céphée...

    Image Crédit & Copyright : Eddie Sgarbossa

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260820.ht
    cidehom.com/apod.php?_date=260

    #APOD #Astronomie #Céphée #Nébuleuse #TrompeDEléphant

  8. The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus
    Image Credit & Copyright: Eddie Sgarbossa

    Explanation: Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission region and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Also known as vdB 142, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long. The detailed telescopic view features the bright swept-back ridges and pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas that abound in the region. But the dark, tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide protostars within. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees. Top to bottom this proboscidean-like rendition reaches across an almost 1 degree wide field of view, though. That's a little less than the angular size of 2 full moons.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260820.html #apod

  9. Astronomy photo of the day: The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus.
    Copyright: Eddie Sgarbossa

    Explanation: Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission region and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Also known as vdB 142, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long

    #APOD

  10. 2026 August 20

    The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus
    * Image Credit & Copyright: Eddie Sgarbossa
    app.astrobin.com/u/EddieSgarbo

    Explanation:
    Like an illustration in a galactic Just So Story, the Elephant's Trunk Nebula winds through the emission region and young star cluster complex IC 1396, in the high and far off constellation of Cepheus. Also known as vdB 142, this cosmic elephant's trunk is over 20 light-years long. The detailed telescopic view features the bright swept-back ridges and pockets of cool interstellar dust and gas that abound in the region. But the dark, tendril-shaped clouds contain the raw material for star formation and hide protostars within. Nearly 3,000 light-years distant, the relatively faint IC 1396 complex covers a large region on the sky, spanning over 5 degrees. Top to bottom this proboscidean-like rendition reaches across an almost 1 degree wide field of view, though. That's a little less than the angular size of 2 full moons.
    boop.org/jan/justso/elephant.h
    hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cep/
    app.astrobin.com/u/EddieSgarbo
    www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/what1.h
    spitzer.caltech.edu/image/ssc2
    arxiv.org/abs/0808.3013
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170720.ht

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260820.ht

    #space #nebula #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA #apod

  11. The Case of the Mysterious Maybe Meteor
    Video Credit: Juan Pablo Castañeda
    Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)
    H/t: William Cooke, David Lee, Peter Brown, Denis Vida, Peter Jenniskens

    Explanation: Whatdunit? What disappeared while crossing a partially eclipsed Sun? Let’s present the evidence. The 24 frames-per-second video was taken in Spain (40°34'30.3"N 1°12'28.8"W) at 20:28 local time on August 12, 2026. The Perseids meteor shower was at its peak during this time. Is this a meteor? Meteor showers trace back to a region of the sky called a radiant point that corresponds to where the Earth is crossing a comet’s path. The object’s path might trace back to the Perseids’ radiant point in the Perseus constellation. The object trails a smaller angle on the sky than the 0.5 degree Sun and Moon, which is smaller than expected for a meteor. Its brightness does not extend much past the Sun, but a meteor burning up in the sky would not need sunlight to be seen. Perhaps the sunlight is reflecting off of the object? After cross-referencing the location, time, and point in the sky with a flight database, the culprit is found to be an airplane contrail!

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260819.html #apod

  12. 2026 August 19

    The Case of the Mysterious Maybe Meteor
    * Video Credit: Juan Pablo Castañeda
    * Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)
    kerockcliffe.com/
    * H/t: William Cooke, David Lee, Peter Brown, Denis Vida, Peter Jenniskens
    sma.nasa.gov/sma-disciplines/m
    physics.uwo.ca/people/faculty_
    space.uwo.ca/people/our-member
    seti.org/people/peter-jenniske

    Explanation: Whatdunit? What disappeared while crossing a partially eclipsed Sun? Let’s present the evidence. The 24 frames-per-second video was taken in Spain (40°34'30.3"N 1°12'28.8"W) at 20:28 local time on August 12, 2026. The Perseids meteor shower was at its peak during this time. Is this a meteor? Meteor showers trace back to a region of the sky called a radiant point that corresponds to where the Earth is crossing a comet’s path. The object’s path might trace back to the Perseids’ radiant point in the Perseus constellation. The object trails a smaller angle on the sky than the 0.5 degree Sun and Moon, which is smaller than expected for a meteor. Its brightness does not extend much past the Sun, but a meteor burning up in the sky would not need sunlight to be seen. Perhaps the sunlight is reflecting off of the object? After cross-referencing the location, time, and point in the sky with a flight database, the culprit is found to be an airplane contrail!
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whodunit
    science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250816.ht
    science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
    astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/r
    app.astrobin.com/u/OgetayKayal
    noirlab.edu/public/education/c
    astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/a
    amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/
    timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@40
    globe.adsbexchange.com/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170404.ht

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260819.ht

    #space #solareclipse2026 #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #education #apod

  13. 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.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260818.html #apod

  14. Astronomy photo of the day: Perseids from Perseus.
    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

    #APOD

  15. A Golden Corona Eclipse
    Image Credit & Copyright: Rui Santos (Living Impressions)

    Explanation: This total solar eclipse appeared not only poetically beautiful but scientifically interesting. Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week's total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color. But this time, totality observers in Spain saw a corona that appeared unusually golden. For one reason, from Spain, the totality occurred when the setting Sun was near the horizon. That low, sunlight travels through a large amount of air which scatters out blue light. An unusual amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted as a second filter, further scattering the remaining blue tones and deepening the already gold-dominated light. The HDR-processed, multiple-exposure featured image was captured from Benavente, Spain last week. One thing that did not appear golden was a hydrogen-glowing prominence that hovered over the Sun's left edge -- its original bright pink color survived.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260817.html #apod

  16. Milky Way over Yellowstone
    Image Credit & Copyright: Dave Lane

    Explanation: The Milky Way was not created by an evaporating lake. The colorful pool of water, about 10 meters across, is known as Silex Spring and is located in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, USA. Illuminated artificially, the colors are caused by layers of bacteria that grow in the hot spring. Steam rises off the spring, heated by underground magma associated with the Yellowstone Hotspot. Unrelated and far in the distance, the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy arches high overhead, a band lit by billions of stars. The picture features a 16-image panorama taken in 2014. If the Yellowstone Hotspot causes another supervolcanic eruption as it did about 640,000 years ago, a large part of North America would be affected.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260816.html #apod

  17. Astronomy photo of the day: A Golden Corona Eclipse.
    Copyright: Rui Santos
    (Living Impressions)

    Explanation: This total solar eclipse appeared not only poetically beautiful but scientifically interesting. Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week's total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color

    #APOD

  18. Bright Perseids from Sweden
    Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN)

    Explanation: Known for its bright and fast meteors, the annual Perseid Meteor Shower comes to planet Earth's skies from a radiant in the heroic constellation Perseus. The popular northern summer celestial spectacle is created as grains of dust cast off along the orbit of periodic comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle vaporize in Earth's dense atmosphere, tracing brief, but beautiful streaks through the night. Taken near the shower's peak of activity on August 12, this composite image recorded two bright perseid meteors and one meteor's watery reflection from a location near the coastal village of Grisslehamn, Sweden. Almost as bright as Altair, brightest star on the scene, the meteors appear along with the faint, diffuse background of the Milky Way. This year, the shower's peak activity coincided with a New Moon, so perseid meteor flashes were undiminished by bright moonlight. And for many skywatchers, this night of bright perseid meteors followed their viewing of the silhouette of the New Moon in a much anticipated solar eclipse.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260815.html #apod

  19. 2026 August 18

    Perseids from Perseus
    * Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák
    instagram.com/jakubkurak/

    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.
    science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220612.ht
    science.nasa.gov/solar-system/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240812.ht
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170920.ht
    spaceplace.nasa.gov/eclipse-sn
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260814.ht
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260813.ht
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240811.ht
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240808.ht
    whoi.edu/ocean-learning-hub/oc
    science.nasa.gov/sun/
    static.vecteezy.com/system/res
    instagram.com/p/DcDiPkTO_me/
    youtu.be/we1CzbCIdRQ
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Re
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250812.ht

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260818.ht

    #space #perseids #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #education #apod

  20. Total Solar Eclipse from Greenland
    Image Credit & Copyright: Aditya Madhavan

    Explanation: On August 12, the Moon's shadow reached out to touch our fair planet. Beginning in the Arctic Ocean, it swept along a narrow track that led the dark lunar umbra across parts of Greenland, Iceland, the Atlantic, Portugal, and northern Spain. And for a moment, denizens of Earth who found themselves with clear skies under the shadow of the Moon could witness a total solar eclipse. After dodging the weather by sea and making a landing along Rype Fjord on the Greenland east coast (at 71.07055N, 27.71252W), this hard-won snapshot was captured at 17:33:26 UTC. That's near the initial reach of clearing skies along the path of totality, so the image is likely one of the first unobstructed views of the totally eclipsed Sun. Through a break in the clouds, the stunning photo also records one of this eclipse's transient diamond rings and the magnificent solar corona emerging near the moment totality began.

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260814.html #apod

  21. 2026 August 17

    A Golden Corona Eclipse
    * Image Credit & Copyright: Rui Santos (Living Impressions
    livingimpressions.online/
    instagram.com/living.impressio

    Explanation:
    This total solar eclipse appeared not only poetically beautiful but scientifically interesting. Usually the solar corona appears white, and to some observers the corona of last week's total solar eclipse did appear this pearly color. But this time, totality observers in Spain saw a corona that appeared unusually golden. For one reason, from Spain, the totality occurred when the setting Sun was near the horizon. That low, sunlight travels through a large amount of air which scatters out blue light. An unusual amount of smoke in the air from nearby forest fires acted as a second filter, further scattering the remaining blue tones and deepening the already gold-dominated light. The HDR-processed, multiple-exposure featured image was captured from Benavente, Spain last week. One thing that did not appear golden was a hydrogen-glowing prominence that hovered over the Sun's left edge -- its original bright pink color survived.
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230516.ht
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260814.ht
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
    optics4kids.org/what-is-optics
    optics4kids.org/what-is-optics
    media.istockphoto.com/id/12158
    firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/m
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260730.ht
    science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visibl
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dyn
    instagram.com/p/Db_yz70jS86/
    youtu.be/GqtSSkrpk6E
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230801.ht
    science.nasa.gov/sun/
    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170912.ht

    apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260817.ht

    #space #sun #earth #moon #solareclipse #solareclipse2026 #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #physics #nature #NASA #apod