|
Credit & Copyright: Christophe Marlot
Explanation:
The 2001 Leonid storm was so intense that the
meteor shower's
radiant, the point on the sky
from which the fleeting trails
seemed to diverge,
was easy to spot.
But the bits of debris that created the meteors really
moved along parallel paths, following the orbit of
their parent comet Tempel-Tuttle.
Their apparent divergence from the shower's radiant point was simply due to
perspective as
skygazers looked
toward the stream of cosmic debris.
During the 2001 Leonid storm, while the radiant was above
the horizon from
SoBaekSan Observatory
in South Korea, astronomer
Christophe Marlot made this single time exposure recording
star trail arcs and a number of meteors.
Since Marlot was looking away from the cosmic debris stream,
this perspective
actually shows red tinged meteor trails converging
toward a point
below the horizon and opposite the radiant -- the
Leonid shower's antiradiant.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Leonids 2001 - meteor - radiant point
Publications with words: Leonids 2001 - meteor - radiant point
See also: