|
Credit & Copyright: Engraving: Adolf Vollmy;
Original Art: Karl Jauslin
Explanation:
It was a night of 100,000 meteors.
The
Great Meteor Storm of 1833 was perhaps the most
impressive meteor event in recent history.
Best visible over eastern
North America during the pre-dawn hours of November 13,
many people -- including a young
Abraham
Lincoln --
were woken up to see the
sky erupt in
streaks and
flashes.
Hundreds of thousands of
meteors blazed across the sky,
seemingly pouring out of the constellation of the Lion
(Leo).
The
featured image is a digitization of a
wood engraving which itself was based on a
painting from a first-person account.
We know today that the
Great Meteor Storm of
1833
was caused by the Earth moving through a dense part of the
dust trail expelled from
Comet Tempel-Tuttle.
The Earth moves through
this dust stream
every November during the
Leonid meteor shower.
Later this week you might get a slight taste of the
intensity of that 1833 meteor storm by
witnessing
the annual
Geminid meteor shower.
Explore Your Universe:
Random APOD Generator
|
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: meteor shower
Publications with words: meteor shower
See also: