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Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek
Explanation:
Where are all these meteors coming from?
In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the
constellation of Perseus.
That is why the meteor shower that peaks tomorrow night is known as the
Perseids -- the
meteors
all appear to came from a
radiant toward Perseus.
In terms of parent body, though, the
sand-sized debris
that makes up the
Perseids
meteors come from Comet Swift-Tuttle.
The comet follows a
well-defined orbit around our Sun,
and the part of the orbit that
approaches Earth is superposed in front of the Perseus.
Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the
radiant point of falling debris appears in Perseus.
Featured here, a composite image taken over eight nights and
containing over 400 meteors from last August's
Perseids meteor shower shows many
bright meteors that
streaked over
Kolonica Observatory in
Slovakia.
This year's
Perseids
holds promise to be
one
of the best meteor showers of the
year.
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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: