Astronomy Picture of the Day · January 12, 2026

Meteor Dust

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for January 12, 2026 is “Meteor Dust,” an image. The picture is copyrighted by its creator (Image Credit & Copyright: Xu Chen). The original explanation runs about 128 words.

A view of mountains over clouds shows a starfield with a purple glow. Prominent on the right is the trail of a bright meteor. To the left of the meteor and connecting to the meteor is something unusual: a light brown triangular puff. Please — Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Xu Chen Copyrighted Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“What’s happening to this meteor? It is shedding its outer layers as it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere and heats up.”

— APOD editors, January 12, 2026

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date: January 12, 2026
Type: Image
Credit: Credit: Image Credit & Copyright: Xu Chen
Copyright: Copyrighted by the credited creator. Ask the copyright holder before reusing it.
Explanation length: About 128 words

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Topics in this entry

Meteors

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: January 12 in other years

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Source

Astronomy Picture of the Day, January 12, 2026 — science.nasa.gov/image-article/apod-2026-january-12-meteor-dust

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.