When Gemini Sends Stars to Paranal
Explanation:
From a radiant point in the constellation of the Twins, the
annual
Geminid meteor shower rain down on planet Earth.
Tonight, the Geminds reach their peak and could be quite spectacular.
The
featured blended image, however, captured
the shower's impressive peak in the year 2012.
The beautiful skyscape collected Gemini's lovely shooting stars
in a careful composite of 30 exposures, each 20 seconds long,
from the dark of the Chilean
Atacama Desert over
ESO's
Paranal Observatory.
In the foreground Paranal's four
Very Large Telescopes, four
Auxillary Telescopes, and the
VLT Survey telescope
are all open and observing.
The skies above are shared with bright Jupiter (left), Orion, (top
left), and the faint light of the
Milky Way.
Dust swept up from the orbit of
active asteroid
3200 Phaethon,
Gemini's meteors enter
Earth's atmosphere traveling
at about 22 kilometers per second.
Tonight:
Join NASA's Geminids Tweet Chat
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.
