                        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 August 25
     A starfield surrounds the bright blue stars of a star cluster: the
     Pleiades star cluster. Nearly horizontally across the cluster is a
    bright green streak, most likely a meteor. Please see the explanation
                       for more detailed information.

                       The Meteor and the Star Cluster
          Image Credit & Copyright: Yousif Alqasimi & Essa Al Jasmi

   Explanation: Sometimes even the sky surprises you. To see more stars
   and faint nebulosity in the Pleiades star cluster (M45), long exposures
   are made. Many times, less interesting items appear on the exposures
   that were not intended -- but later edited out. These include stuck
   pixels, cosmic ray hits, frames with bright clouds or Earth's Moon,
   airplane trails, lens flares, faint satellite trails, and even insect
   trails. Sometimes, though, something really interesting is caught by
   chance. That was just the case a few weeks ago in al-Ula, Saudi Arabia
   when a bright meteor streaked across during an hour-long exposure of
   the Pleiades. Along with the famous bright blue stars, less famous and
   less bright blue stars, and blue-reflecting dust surrounding the star
   cluster, the fast rock fragment created a distinctive green glow,
   likely due to vaporized metals.

                Jigsaw Universe: Astronomy Puzzle of the Day
                       Tomorrow's picture: leaky star
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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