Geminid Meteors over Chile
Explanation:
Are meteors streaming out from a point in the sky?
Yes, in a way.
When the Earth crosses a
stream of Sun-orbiting meteors,
these meteors appear to come from the direction of the stream --
with the directional point called the
radiant.
An example occurs every mid-December for the
Geminids meteor shower,
as apparent in the
featured
image.
Recorded near the shower's peak in 2013, the featured
skyscape captures
Gemini's
shooting stars
in a four-hour composite from the dark skies of the
Las
Campanas Observatory in
Chile.
In the foreground the 2.5-meter
du Pont Telescope
is visible as well as the 1-meter
SWOPE telescope.
The skies beyond the meteors are highlighted by
Jupiter,
seen as the bright spot near the image center, the central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy,
seen vertically on the image left, and the pinkish
Orion Nebula on the far left.
Dust swept up from the orbit of
active asteroid
3200 Phaethon,
Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere traveling
at about 22 kilometers per second.
The 2019
Geminid meteor shower
peaks
again this coming weekend.
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.
