Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 25 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Twelve Years of Kappa Cygnids Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Petr Horálek, [5]Josef Kujal, [6]Tomáš Slovinský; Acknowledgement: [7]Mahdi Zamani Explanation: Meteors from the [8]Kappa Cygnid meteor shower are captured in this time-lapse composite skyscape. The minor meteor shower, with a [9]radiant not far from its eponymous star Kappa Cygni, peaks in mid-August, almost at the same time as the much better-known and better-observed Perseid meteor shower. But, seen to have a peak rate of only about 3 meteors per hour, Kappa Cygnids are vastly outnumbered by the more popular, prolific [10]Perseid shower's meteors that emanate from the heroic constellation Perseus. To capture dozens of Kappa Cygnids, this long term astro-imaging project compiled meteors in exposures selected from over 51 August nights during the years 2012 through 2024. Most of the exposures with [11]identified Kappa Cygnid meteors were made in August 2021, a high point of the shower's known 7-year activity cycle. [12]All twelve years worth of Kappa Cygnids are registered against a base sea and night skyscape of the Milky Way above Elafonisi Beach, Crete, Greece, also recorded in August of 2021. Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy, [30]Accessibility, [31]Notices; A service of: [32]ASD at [33]NASA / [34]GSFC, [35]NASA Science Activation & [36]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2507/KCG2021_08_11_Pano_Elafonisi_met_fin-CCMZ_1500px.png 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.petrhoralek.com/#about-1 5. https://www.instagram.com/josef.kujal/ 6. https://tomasslovinsky.com/#about 7. https://mahdizamani.com/ 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_Cygnids 9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_(meteor_shower) 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230809.html 11. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2025A&A...695A..83B/abstract 12. https://www.petrhoralek.com/?p=25643 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250724.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.com/feed.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=250725 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap250726.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 32. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/ 34. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 35. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 36. http://www.mtu.edu/