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Good afternoon, Rallypoint, and welcome to the January 12, 2026 edition of Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Talk about being in the right place at the right time...today's image from Huangshan, China, was captured coincident with the Geminid meteor shower last month. The exposure captures "meteor dust" as the prevailing higher-level winds push it away (from right to left) from the inbound meteor trail. Timing is everything.
APOD: 2026 January 12 – Meteor Dust
Posted from apod.nasa.gov
Space
Science
Photography
Astronomy
Posted 8 d ago
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Wow, the last two days, dust plays a part of astronomy and Meteorology. Yesterday I gave an example of satellite imagery in ferreting out true positioning. In weather, there is dust that plays a part. Nuclei particles can be DUST, a preeminent feature that moisture adheres to, at some point the water vapor lifts until it becomes heavy enough to make clouds and rain. Depending on lift these clouds can morph into severe storms. 3,000 J/kg. These indices are derived from SKEW-T data (weather balloons). Dust plays an integral part in detecting very small scale features that gives us clues to what we see.
One of my favorite scientists was Carl Sagan. Neil Degrasse followed up to give us finer perspectives as well as Michio Kaku. Atmospheric puzzles like gravity being a weak force. CERN and Higgs Boson. Richard Feynman postulated the Standard Model, a potential precursor to more esoteric models.
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price LTC Trent Klug COL Mikel J. Burroughs PO3 Phyllis Maynard Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Stephen F. LTC Stephen C. Maj Robert Thornton Col (Join to see) SMSgt Lawrence McCarter Cpl Vic Burk CPL Douglas Chrysler Sgt (Join to see) MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. COL Randall Cudworth SFC William Farrell
One of my favorite scientists was Carl Sagan. Neil Degrasse followed up to give us finer perspectives as well as Michio Kaku. Atmospheric puzzles like gravity being a weak force. CERN and Higgs Boson. Richard Feynman postulated the Standard Model, a potential precursor to more esoteric models.
Maj William W. 'Bill' Price LTC Trent Klug COL Mikel J. Burroughs PO3 Phyllis Maynard Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Stephen F. LTC Stephen C. Maj Robert Thornton Col (Join to see) SMSgt Lawrence McCarter Cpl Vic Burk CPL Douglas Chrysler Sgt (Join to see) MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. COL Randall Cudworth SFC William Farrell
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SGT Kevin Hughes
SSgt (Join to see) - Oh yeah, Leonard was a plumber, and Richard had "only" a 128 IQ...but they both just kept asking questions. And Hawking...well, his story in College is legendary. What a mind.
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SGT Kevin Hughes - That 123-128 is kind of funny because these tests can be highly inaccurate. For me, test taking had been a bane, and a test in the early morning was pure Kryptonite. Vocabulary and spelling was by far my best subjects along with sports and course, weather. lol
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SGT Kevin Hughes
SSgt (Join to see) - My Best Friend Eddie, was one the best Engineers I ever knew...but give him a Test, and he flunks it every time. His Company learned not to test him, but give him an Engineering problem to solve and let him alone. He used to cry before taking a test...and was so mad afterwords. "Kev, I knew all that stuff, where did it go?" I always told him to stop paying attention to tests, that just spitting back information, but if you can think (and man, could he think) you figure stuff out.
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SGT Kevin Hughes - I loved working by myself at every stop. It was there I felt in my element. At East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL., I was watching the radar and noticed what was a 'Line Echo Wave Pattern' that was moving towards the track and I called the track and talked to the promoter of the 410 Sprint Nationals telling him what severe weather was coming. When I called back he told me that a tornado moved 1 mile south the track. Seeing that the cars had wings they got the cars into their haulers. It was a near hit but he was thankful for the heads up.
I am not a NASCAR fan per se, but I like short tracks. One night we had a Hurricane in the Gulf of America moving generally northward. I told the track no problem we were fine. So every race track was canx, except East Bay. Jack Miller (former Air Force Forecaster) told fans that we were the only track that was racing.
The job was stressful but worth it because race fans and drivers work hard so a cancellation is a big deal to families. Seeing all those haulers line up at the pit gates reminded me that they lived for that.
Even had a 1%er biker who had my back because I gave him articles in the Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times. That guy is a character.
I am not a NASCAR fan per se, but I like short tracks. One night we had a Hurricane in the Gulf of America moving generally northward. I told the track no problem we were fine. So every race track was canx, except East Bay. Jack Miller (former Air Force Forecaster) told fans that we were the only track that was racing.
The job was stressful but worth it because race fans and drivers work hard so a cancellation is a big deal to families. Seeing all those haulers line up at the pit gates reminded me that they lived for that.
Even had a 1%er biker who had my back because I gave him articles in the Tampa Tribune and St. Pete Times. That guy is a character.
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