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Credit & Copyright: Marzena Rogozinska
Explanation:
Stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy are scattered through this
eye-catching field of view.
From the early hours after midnight on August 13,
the 30 second exposure of the night sky over Busko-Zdroj, Poland
records the
colorful and bright trail of a
Perseid
meteor.
Seen near the peak of the
annual
Perseid meteor shower it
flashes from lower left to upper right.
The hurtling grain of cosmic sand, a piece of dust from
periodic comet Swift-Tuttle,
vaporized as it passed through planet Earth's atmosphere
at almost 60 kilometers per second.
Just above and right of center, well beyond the stars of
the Milky Way, lies the island universe
known as M31 or the Andromeda Galaxy.
The Andromeda Galaxy
is the most distant object easily visible to the naked-eye,
about 2.5 million light-years away.
The visible meteor trail begins only about
100 kilometers
above Earth's surface, though.
It points back to the meteor shower radiant
in the constellation Perseus off the lower left edge of the frame.
Follow this bright perseid meteor trail below and left to
the stars of NGC 869and NGC 884, the
double star cluster in Perseus.
Notable APOD Image Submissions:
Perseid
Meteor Shower 2021
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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: M 31 - Perseids
Publications with words: M 31 - Perseids
See also:
- NGC 206 and the Star Clouds of Andromeda
- APOD: 2024 September 8 Á M31: The Andromeda Galaxy
- APOD: 2024 August 12 Á Perseid Meteors over Stonehenge
- APOD: 2024 August 11 Á Animation: Perseid Meteor Shower
- A Perseid Below
- APOD: 2023 November 13 Á Andromeda over the Alps
- The Once and Future Stars of Andromeda