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.

                              2019 December 13

                             Full Moon Geminids
             Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (TWAN)

   Explanation: The dependable annual Geminid meteor shower will be near
   its peak tonight (December 13/14) and before tomorrow's dawn. As Earth
   crosses through the dusty trail of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon the
   meteors will flash through the sky from the shower's radiant in Gemini.
   Gemini will be pretty easy for skygazers to find too as it won't be far
   from a nearly full waning gibbous Moon. You don't have look at the
   shower's radiant to see meteors though. The almost full moonlight won't
   hide the brightest of the Geminids from view either, but it will
   substantially reduce the rate of visible meteors for those who are
   counting. In fact, the 2019 Geminids should look a lot like the 2016
   meteor shower This composite image from the 2016 Geminids aligns
   individual short exposures to capture many of the brighter Geminid
   meteors, inspite of a Full Moon shining near the constellation of the
   Twins. Along the horizon are the Teide Observatory's Solar Laboratory
   (right) and the Teide volcano on the Canary Island of Tenerife.

                    Tomorrow's picture: moonlight weekend
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