木星与双子流星

2023年12月28日

Jupiter and the Geminid
Image Credit & Copyright: Gaurav Singh

Explanation: For a brief moment, this brilliant fireball meteor outshone Jupiter in planet Earth’s night. The serendipitous image was captured while hunting meteors under cold Canadian skies with a camera in timelapse mode on December 14, near the peak of the Geminid meteor shower. The Geminid meteor shower, asteroid 3200 Phaethon’s annual gift, always arrives in December. Dust shed along the orbit of the mysterious asteroid causes the meteor streaks, as the vaporizing grains plow through our fair planet’s upper atmosphere at 22 kilometers per second. Of course Geminid shower meteors appear to radiate from a point in the constellation of the Twins. That’s below and left of this frame. With bright Jupiter on the right, also in the December night skyview are the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters.

Tomorrow’s picture: Shakespeare in space

木星与双子座流星
影像提供与版权: Gaurav Singh

说明: 在地球的夜空中，这颗绚丽的火流星于极短的期间比木星还要明亮。这张偶然拍下的照片，是在12月14日接近双子座流星雨的极大期时，使用设定进行自动缩时拍摄的相机，摄于加拿大寒冷的天空下。双子流星雨是法厄同小行星（3200 Phaethon）带来的年度献礼，而且总是在12月送达。每当散落在这颗谜样小行星轨道上的尘埃，以每秒22公里的速度穿入地球的高层大气时，就会汽化形成流星痕。想当然耳，双子座流星雨之所以得名，则是因为它的流星皆看似辐散自双子座内、位于这片视野下左缘外头的辐射点。除此之外，在这片12月的夜空里，还可见到昴宿星团和毕宿星团，以及右侧的明亮木星。

明日的图片: Shakespeare in space