|
Credit & Copyright: Chuck Derus
Explanation:
Asteroid 3200 Phaethon's
annual
gift
to planet Earth
always arrives
in December.
Otherwise known as
the Geminid meteor shower,
the source of the meteroid stream is
dust shed along the orbit of the
mysterious
asteroid.
Near the December 13/14 peak of the shower's activity,
geminid meteors are captured in this night skyscape,
composited from 22 images of starry sky
taken before the moon rose over
Monument Valley
in the American southwest.
The bright stars near the position of the shower's radiant
are the constellation Gemini's twin stars
Castor (blue) and Pollux (yellow).
As Earth sweeps through the dusty stream,
the parallel meteor trails appear to radiate from a point
on the sky in Gemini due to perspective,
and so the yearly shower is named for the constellation.
From the camera's perspective, this view of three prominent
buttes across Monument Valley also suggests appropriate names for
two
of them.
The third one is called
Merrick
Butte.
|
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: Geminids
Publications with words: Geminids
See also: