Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

A Meteor and the Gegenschein

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 12, 2021 is “A Meteor and the Gegenschein,” an image. It is credited to Image Credit: J.C. Casado , StarryEarth , EELabs , TWAN. The original explanation runs about 178 words.

Rainbow airglow over the Azores. See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available.
Credit: Image Credit: J.C. Casado , StarryEarth , EELabs , TWAN Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“Is the night sky darkest in the direction opposite the Sun? No.”

— APOD editors, May 12, 2021

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
May 12, 2021
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: Image Credit: J.C. Casado , StarryEarth , EELabs , TWAN
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 178 words

All of May 2021 → · 2021 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The SunMeteors

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: May 12 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.