Lyrids in Southern Skies
Explanation:
Earth's annual Lyrid
meteor shower peaked before dawn on April 22nd, as our fair planet
plowed through dust from the tail of long-period
comet
Thatcher.
Seen from the high, dark, and
dry
Atacama desert a waning crescent Moon
and brilliant Venus join Lyrid meteor streaks in this composited view.
Captured over 5 hours on the night of April 21/22,
the meteors stream away from the shower's
radiant, a point not very far on the
sky from Vega,
alpha star
of the constellation Lyra.
The radiant effect is due to perspective as the parallel meteor
tracks appear
to converge in the distance.
In the foreground are domes of the Las Campanas Observatory
housing (left to right) the 2.5 meter du Pont Telescope
and the 1.3 meter Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment
(OGLE) telescope.
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.
