                        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.

                                2025 July 23
    A bright streak is pictured through a starry sky over a beach spotted
    with the husks of dead trees. The rollover shows the resulting smoke
     trail from the bright meteor. Moving the cursor over the image will
   bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the
    highest resolution version available. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                         Fireball over Cape San Blas
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Jason Rice

   Explanation: Have you ever seen a fireball? In astronomy, a fireball is
   a very bright meteor -- one at least as bright as Venus and possibly
   brighter than even a full Moon. Fireballs are rare -- if you see one
   you are likely to remember it for your whole life. Physically, a
   fireball is a small rock that originated from an asteroid or comet that
   typically leaves a fading smoke trail of gas and dust as it shoots
   through the Earth's atmosphere. It is unlikely that any single large
   ground strike occurred -- much of the rock likely vaporized as it broke
   up into many small pieces. The featured picture was captured last week
   from a deadwood beach in Cape San Blas, Florida, USA.

             Piece it Back Together: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

