Geminid Meteors over Teide Volcano
Explanation:
On some nights it rains meteors.
Peaking two nights ago, asteroid dust streaked through the dark skies of Earth, showering
down during the annual
Geminids meteor shower.
Astrophotographer
Juan Carlos Casado
captured the space weather event, as pictured above,
in a series of exposures spanning about 2.3 hours using a wide angle lens.
The snowcapped
Teide volcano of the
Canary Islands of
Spain towers in the foreground,
while the
picturesque
constellation
of
Orion highlights the background.
The star appearing just near the top of the volcano is
Rigel.
Although the
asteroid
dust particles are traveling parallel to each other,
the resulting meteor
streaks appear to radiate
from a single point on the sky, in this case in the
constellation of Gemini, off the top of the image.
Like
train tracks appearing to converge in the distance, the
meteor radiant
effect is due to perspective.
The astrophotographer has estimated that there are about
50 Geminids visible in the above composite image --
how many do you see?
Budget Universe:
Free APOD 2014 Calendar in PDF format
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
