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Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang
Explanation:
Why would meteor trails appear curved?
The arcing effect arises only because the image
artificially compresses (nearly) the whole sky
into a rectangle.
The meteors are from the
Perseid Meteor Shower that peaked
last week.
The featured multi-frame image combines not only
different directions from the 360 projection, but different times when
bright Perseid meteors momentarily streaked across the
sky.
All Perseid
meteors can be traced back to the
constellation Perseus
toward the lower left, even the seemingly curved (but really straight)
meteor trails.
Although Perseids always point back to their
Perseus radiant, they can appear almost anywhere on the
sky.
The image was taken from
Inner Mongolia,
China, where
grasslands meet
sand dunes.
Many treasures also visible in the busy night sky including the
central arch of our
Milky Way Galaxy, the planets
Saturn and Jupiter toward the right,
colorful airglow on the central left,
and some relatively nearby Earthly clouds.
The Perseid Meteor Shower peaks every August.
Perseid Meteor Shower:
Notable images submitted to APOD
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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: Perseids
Publications with words: Perseids
See also: