                        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 December 18

                     Jupiter and the Meteors from Gemini
                    Image Credit & Copyright: David Cruz

   Explanation: Jupiter, the Solar System's ruling gas giant, is the
   brightest celestial beacon at the center of this composite night
   skyscape. The scene was constructed by selecting the 40 exposures
   containing meteors from about 500 exposures made on the nights of
   December 13 and 14, near peak activity for this year's annual Geminid
   meteor shower. With each selected exposure registered in the night sky
   above Alentejo, Portugal, planet Earth, it does look like the meteors
   are streaming away from Jupiter. But the apparent radiant of the
   Geminid meteors is actually closer to bright star Castor, in the
   shower's eponymous constellation Gemini. In this frame that's just a
   little above and left of the Solar System's most massive planet. Still,
   the parent body of Geminid meteors is known to be rocky, near-Earth
   asteroid 3200 Phaethon. And the orbit of Phaethon itself is influenced
   by the gravitational attraction exerted by massive Jupiter, in concert
   with planets of the inner Solar System.

                 Tomorrow's picture: cathedrals on the moon
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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