                        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.

                              2024 December 15
   A snowy landscape is pictured below a starry sky. The very bright Moon
    appears on the upper right. Many streaks are visile that are meteors
     taken over the night. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                     Geminid Meteors over a Snowy Forest
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Jakub Kuřák

   Explanation: Meteors have been flowing out from the constellation
   Gemini. This was expected, as mid-December is the time of the Geminid
   Meteor Shower. Pictured here, over two dozen meteors were caught in
   successively added exposures taken over several hours early Saturday
   morning from a snowy forest in Poland. The fleeting streaks were bright
   enough to be seen over the din of the nearly full Moon on the upper
   right. These streaks can all be traced back to a point on the sky
   called the radiant toward the bright stars Pollux and Castor in the
   image center. The Geminid meteors started as sand sized bits expelled
   from asteroid 3200 Phaethon during its elliptical orbit through the
   inner Solar System.

                Jigsaw Challenge: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                       Tomorrow's picture: comet cliff
     __________________________________________________________________

       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.

