APOD: 2026 September 26 – Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way

On September 26, 2026, the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) featured a captivating image titled "Mirrored Meteor and Milky Way." This striking photograph captured the brilliant and vibrant trail of a Perseid meteor streaking across the night sky above the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain.

The meteor's luminous path was juxtaposed against the vast expanse of the Milky Way, with its dark interstellar dust clouds and brilliant starlight glowing above the horizon.

Dominating the foreground of this mesmerizing scene was the 23-meter diameter mirror of the prototype Large-Sized Telescope (LST-1). LST-1 is the first telescope built at the northern hemisphere location of the innovative Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory. This cutting-edge telescope boasts 198 hexagonal mirror segments and a highly efficient, pixelated camera, designed to detect the fleeting, atmospheric visible light flashes known as Cherenkov radiation.

These flashes, lasting mere billionths of a second, are triggered by high-energy gamma-rays originating from distant cosmic phenomena, such as active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts.

Interestingly, during that fateful night, several LST-1 mirror segments also reflected the atmospheric flash of the spectacular Perseid meteor. The APOD's email for image submissions has been updated, and current submissions can be found at APOD Submissions. The main NASA site has transitioned, moving from apod.nasa.gov to science.nasa.gov/apod.

The APOD is a collaborative effort led by experts at NASA/GSFC, Michigan Tech. U., and featuring content crafted by Jerry Bonnell, Cecilia Chirenti, Robert Nemiroff, and Keighley Rockcliffe.