#apod — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #apod, aggregated by home.social.
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#apod 2026-08-22
Mostly Perseids
Image Credit: Valašské Meziříčí Observatory
Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260822.html -
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.
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Astronomy photo of the day: Mostly Perseids.
Copyright: Valašské Meziříčí ObservatoryExplanation: 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
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2026 August 22
Mostly Perseids
* Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Koukal Valašské Meziříčí Observatory
https://www.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.
https://cementcz.eu/network-cement/
https://amsmeteors.org/2026/08/meteor-activity-outlook-for-august-8-14-2026/
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/perseids/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260818.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250725.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250725.html
https://www.popastro.com/meteor/meteor-showers/#Antihelion%20Source%20(ANT)%20Radiant%20Centre%20Locationshttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260822.html
#space #perseids #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #education #apod
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#Time-Lapse of the #Star #S301 #Orbiting the #BlackHole in the Centre of the #Galaxy
#Astronomy #Picture of the Dayhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260821.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/image/2608/eso2612b.mp4 -
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.
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#apod 2026-08-21 (video)
Time-Lapse of the Star S301 Orbiting the Black Hole in the Center of the Galaxy
Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260821.html
Content: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2608/eso2612b.mp4
APOD: 2026 August 21 - Time-La... -
2026 August 21
Time-Lapse of the S301 Star Orbiting Sagittarius A*
* Image Credit & Copyright: ESO/GRAVITY Collaboration/L. Calçada
https://www.eso.org/public/
https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/paranal/instruments/gravity/overview.html
https://luiscalcada.com/
* Text: Cecilia Chirenti (NASA GSFC, UMCP, CRESST II)
https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci/bio/cecilia.chirentiExplanation:
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.
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes/types/#supermassive
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso2612b/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220513.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10894-w
https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/vlt/vlti/
https://www.eso.org/public/
https://www.esa.int/Applications/Observing_the_Earth/The_Atacama_Desert_Chile
https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2612/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070114.html
https://science.nasa.gov/saturn/
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1921/einstein/biographical/
https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/blueshift/index.php/2015/11/25/100-years-of-general-relativity/
https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso2612d/https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260821.html
#space #blackhole #astrophysics #astrophotography #photography #astronomy #science #nature #NASA #apod #ESA #ESO
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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
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260820.html
https://www.cidehom.com/apod.php?_date=260820 -
The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus
Image Credit & Copyright: Eddie SgarbossaExplanation: 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.
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The Elephant’s Trunk in #Cepheus
#Astronomy #Picture of the Day -
Astronomy photo of the day: The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus.
Copyright: Eddie SgarbossaExplanation: 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
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2026 August 20
The Elephant's Trunk in Cepheus
* Image Credit & Copyright: Eddie Sgarbossa
https://app.astrobin.com/u/EddieSgarbossa#galleryExplanation:
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://www.boop.org/jan/justso/elephant.htm
https://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/cep/
https://app.astrobin.com/u/EddieSgarbossa?i=qjfmdv&r=C
https://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/what1.html
https://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/image/ssc2003-06b-dhttps://arxiv.org/abs/0808.3013ark-globule-in-ic-1396
https://arxiv.org/abs/0808.3013
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170720.htmlhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260820.html
#space #nebula #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA #apod
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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 JenniskensExplanation: 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!
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The Case of the Mysterious Maybe #Meteor
#Astronomy #Picture of the Dayhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260819.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/image/2608/perseids_eclipse_mystery.mp4 -
#apod 2026-08-19 (video)
The Case of the Mysterious Maybe Meteor
Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260819.html
Content: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2608/perseids_eclipse_mystery.mp4
APOD: 2026 August 19 – The Cas... -
2026 August 19
The Case of the Mysterious Maybe Meteor
* Video Credit: Juan Pablo Castañeda
* Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)
https://kerockcliffe.com/
* H/t: William Cooke, David Lee, Peter Brown, Denis Vida, Peter Jenniskens
https://sma.nasa.gov/sma-disciplines/meteoroid-environments
https://physics.uwo.ca/people/faculty_web_pages/brown.html
https://space.uwo.ca/people/our-members/vida-denis/index.html
https://www.seti.org/people/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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whodunit
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/perseids/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250816.html
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/r/Radiant
https://app.astrobin.com/u/OgetayKayali?i=jazfxj
https://noirlab.edu/public/education/constellations/perseus/
https://astronomy.swin.edu.au/cosmos/a/Angular+Diameter
https://www.amsmeteors.org/fireballs/faqf/
https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@40.575,358.792?iso=20260812
https://globe.adsbexchange.com/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170404.htmlhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260819.html
#space #solareclipse2026 #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #education #apod
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Perseids from Perseus
Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub KuřákExplanation: 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.
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#apod 2026-08-18
Perseids from Perseus
Image Credit: Jakub Kuřák
Web page: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260818.html -
Astronomy photo of the day: Perseids from Perseus.
Copyright: Jakub KuřákExplanation: 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
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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.
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Milky Way over Yellowstone
Image Credit & Copyright: Dave LaneExplanation: 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.
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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
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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.
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2026 August 18
Perseids from Perseus
* Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák
https://www.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.
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/meteors-meteorites/perseids/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220612.html
https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/whats-up-august-2026-skywatching-tips-from-nasa/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240812.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170920.html
https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/eclipse-snap/en/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260814.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260813.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240811.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240808.html
https://www.whoi.edu/ocean-learning-hub/ocean-facts/how-is-beach-sand-created/
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/
https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/thumbnails/072/246/507/small/two-playful-puppies-having-fun-in-a-sunny-garden-showcasing-their-energy-and-joy-together-photo.jpeg
https://www.instagram.com/p/DcDiPkTO_me/
https://youtu.be/we1CzbCIdRQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_(meteor_shower)
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250812.htmlhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260818.html
#space #perseids #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #nature #NASA #education #apod
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Total Solar Eclipse from Greenland
Image Credit & Copyright: Aditya MadhavanExplanation: 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.
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2026 August 17
A Golden Corona Eclipse
* Image Credit & Copyright: Rui Santos (Living Impressions
https://livingimpressions.online/
https://www.instagram.com/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/ap230516.html
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260814.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
https://www.optics4kids.org/what-is-optics/scattering/why-is-the-sky-blue-why-are-sunsets-red
https://www.optics4kids.org/what-is-optics/scattering/why-is-the-sky-blue-why-are-sunsets-red
https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1215895183/photo/portrait-of-a-ginger-cat-the-cat-in-the-medical-face-mask-outdoors-medical-concept.jpg
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:24hrs;@-5.9,35.0,3.1z
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260730.html
https://science.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range
https://www.instagram.com/p/Db_yz70jS86/
https://youtu.be/GqtSSkrpk6E
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen-alpha
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230801.html
https://science.nasa.gov/sun/
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170912.htmlhttps://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap260817.html
#space #sun #earth #moon #solareclipse #solareclipse2026 #astrophotography #photography #science #astronomy #physics #nature #NASA #apod