Credit & Copyright: Tomas Slovinsky
(Slovakia) &
Petr Horalek
(Czech Republic;
Institute of Physics in Opava)
Explanation:
What's the best way to watch a meteor shower?
This question might come up later this week when the annual Perseid Meteor Shower peaks.
One thing that is helpful is a dark sky, as demonstrated in the
featured composite image
of last year's
Perseids.
Many more faint
meteors are visible
on the left image, taken through a very dark sky in
Slovakia,
than on the right image, taken through a moderately dark sky in the
Czech Republic.
The band of the
Milky Way Galaxy bridges the
two coordinated images, while the meteor shower
radiant in the
constellation
of Perseus is clearly visible on the left.
In sum, many faint meteors are lost through a bright sky.
Light pollution
is shrinking areas across
our Earth with dark skies, although inexpensive ways
to
combat this might be implemented.
Notable Perseids Submissions to APOD:
2018,
2019,
2020
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: Perseids
Publications with words: Perseids
See also: