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Credit & Copyright: Petr
Horálek
Explanation:
Why are these meteor trails nearly
parallel?
Because they were all shed by the
same space rock and so can be
traced back to the same direction on the sky: the
radiant of the
Quadrantid
Meteor Shower.
This direction used to be toward the old constellation of
Quadrans Muralis,
hence the name Quadrantids, but when the
International Astronomical Union formulated its
list of modern constellations in 1922,
this constellation
did
not make the list.
Even though the
meteors are now considered
to originate from the recognized
constellation of Bootes,
the old name stuck.
Regardless of the designation, every January the Earth moves through a
dust stream and bits of this
dust glow as meteors as they heat up in
Earth's
atmosphere.
The featured
image composite was taken on January 4 with a picturesque snowy
Slovakian
landscape in the foreground, and a
deep-exposure sky prominently featuring the constellation
Orion in the background.
The red star
Betelgeuse
appears unusually dim --
its fading over the past few months is being
tracked by astronomers.
Teachers:
APOD in the Classroom
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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: meteor shower - Orion
Publications with words: meteor shower - Orion
See also:
- APOD: 2024 August 14 Á Meteors and Aurora over Germany
- APOD: 2024 August 11 Á Animation: Perseid Meteor Shower
- A Perseid Below
- APOD: 2024 January 31 Á Camera Orion Rising
- APOD: 2024 January 16 Á The Orion You Can Almost See
- Quadrantids of the North
- APOD: 2023 December 17 Á Geminids over Chinas Nianhu Lake