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The constellation Orion is framed by two Perseid meteors in this photo from Aug. 12, 2018, in Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. The Perseids – one of the year’s brightest and most popular meteor showers – has been ramping up since early July and will sparkle in the skies through the end of August. The

Video: 00:00:04 Yesterday between 20:26 and 20:34 CEST, parts of the Iberian peninsula experienced a total solar eclipse. This animation, composed of images from the Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite (MTG-I1), caught the Moon’s dark shadow as it passed over Earth’s surface – converging with the advancing twilight shadow as dusk fell over Europe.From its vantage point in geostationary orbit, MTG-I1 keeps its imaging instruments focused on Europe and northern Africa from a distance of 36 000 km above Earth’s surface. This enabled it to track the Moon’s shadow, called the path of totality, as it swept first over Greenland and Iceland, then over a small part of northeastern Portugal and finally, Spain.While the total eclipse itself lasted just a few minutes on mainland Europe, a partial eclipse was visible over a much wider area. Spectators were able to see the Moon partially covering the Sun’s disc as far apart as northern Canada, the Nordic countries and the western coast of Africa, as far south as Sierra Leone and Liberia. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, blocking the face of the Sun for a short period. During totality, a halo of light is visible around the Moon, known as the Sun’s corona.There are more solar eclipses to come between now and 2028 – watch out for updates on ESA’s solar eclipse activities.The MTG mission is preparing to place its third satellite in orbit. MTG-I2 is scheduled for launch on 27 August 2026, on board flight VA270 on an Ariane 6 launcher, from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

APOD Science APOD APOD: 2026 August 13 – Total… Today’s APOD Archive Submissions Index Search Calendar RSS Education About Discuss   APOD 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. Total Solar

From the International Space Station, astronauts photographed Mount Hood and Mount Rainier as wildfire smoke spread across the Pacific Northwest in summer 2026.

The barren lunar landscape has some important resources, such as water and minerals like iron and titanium, but extracting and processing them will require special equipment. Where those resources can be found will dictate where to land and how to mine them. To help with that, Lunar Station Corp. is using a wealth of NASA