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Credit & Copyright: Stefano Pellegrini
Explanation:
Taken over the course of an hour shortly after local midnight on December 13,
35 exposures were used to create this postcard from Earth.
The composited night scene spans dark skies above the snowy Italian
Dolomites during our fair planet's
annual
Geminid meteor shower.
Sirius, alpha star of Canis Major and the brightest star in the night,
is grazed by a meteor streak on the right.
The Praesepe star cluster, also known as M44 or the Beehive cluster,
itself
contains
about a thousand stars but appears as a smudge of light far
above the southern alpine peaks near the top.
The shower's radiant is off the top of the frame though, near Castor and
Pollux the twin stars of Gemini.
The radiant effect is due to
perspective as the parallel meteor tracks
appear to converge
in the distance.
As Earth sweeps through the dust trail of asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the
dust
that creates
Gemini's meteors enters
Earth's atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second.
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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: Geminids
Publications with words: Geminids
See also: