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