Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2023 May 12 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Halley Dust, Mars Dust, and Milky Way Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Petr Horalek / [5]Institute of Physics in Opava Explanation: [6]Grains of cosmic dust streaked through night skies in early May. Swept up as planet Earth plowed through the [7]debris streams left behind by [8]periodic Comet Halley, the annual meteor shower is known as the Eta Aquarids. This year, the Eta Aquarids peak was visually hampered by May's bright Full Moon, though. But early morning hours surrounding last May's shower of Halley dust were free of moonlight interference. [9]In exposures recorded between April 28 and May 8 in 2022, this composited image shows nearly 90 Eta Aquarid meteors streaking from the shower's radiant in Aquarius over San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. The central Milky Way arcs above in the southern hemisphere's predawn skies. The faint band of light rising from the horizon is Zodiacal light, caused by dust scattering sunlight near our Solar System's ecliptic plane. Along the ecliptic and entrained in the Zodiacal glow [10]are the bright planets Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn. [11]Of course Mars itself has recently been found to be a likely source of the dust along the ecliptic responsible for creating [12]Zodiacal light. Tomorrow's picture: The Crescent Earth __________________________________________________________________ [13]< | [14]Archive | [15]Submissions | [16]Index | [17]Search | [18]Calendar | [19]RSS | [20]Education | [21]About APOD | [22]Discuss | [23]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [24]Robert Nemiroff ([25]MTU) & [26]Jerry Bonnell ([27]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [28]Specific rights apply. [29]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [30]ASD at [31]NASA / [32]GSFC & [33]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2305/2022_05_04_Eta_Aquaridy_SP_Meteory_Fin_Vyska_1500px.png 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.petrhoralek.com/#about-1 5. https://www.slu.cz/phys/en/ 6. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-eta-aquarid-meteor-shower/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230511.html 8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/comets/1p-halley/in-depth/ 9. https://www.petrhoralek.com/?p=23016 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2305/2022_05_04_Eta_Aqu_planetsCrop.jpg 11. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/serendipitous-juno-spacecraft-detections-shatter-ideas-about-origin-of-zodiacal-light 12. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-zodiacal-light-or-false-dawn/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230511.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 17. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 22. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230512 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230513.html 24. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 27. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 29. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 30. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 31. https://www.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 33. http://www.mtu.edu/