标签： 流星雨

2020年8月17日 Perseids Around the Milky Way Image Credit & Copyright: Jingyi Zhang Explanation: Why would meteor trails appear curved? The arcing effect arises only because the image artificially compresses (nearly) the whole sky into a rectangle. The meteors are from the Perseid Meteor Shower that peaked last week. The featured multi-frame image combines n...

2020年8月10日 Perseids from Perseus Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek Explanation: Where are all these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tomorrow night is known as the Perseids — the meteors all appear to came from a radiant toward P...

2020 May 12 Lyrid Meteors from the Constellation Lyra Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek Explanation: Where are all of these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the constellation of Small Harp (Lyra). That is why the famous meteor shower that peaks every April is known as the Lyrids — the meteors all ap...

2020 April 23 Lyrid Meteor Streak Image Credit & Copyright: Zolt Levay Explanation: Earth’s annual Lyrid Meteor Shower peaked before dawn yesterday, as our fair planet plowed through debris from the tail of long-period comet Thatcher. In crisp, clear and moonless predawn skies over Brown County, Indiana this streak of vaporizing comet dust briefly...

2020 January 20 Quadrantid Meteors through Orion Image Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek Explanation: Why are these meteor trails nearly parallel? Because they were all shed by the same space rock and so can be traced back to the same direction on the sky: the radiant of the Quadrantid Meteor Shower. This direction used to be toward the old constellation ...

2020 January 3 Quadrantids over the Great Wall Image Credit & Copyright: Cheng Luo Explanation: Named for a forgotten constellation, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower is an annual event for planet Earth’s northern hemisphere skygazers The shower’s radiant on the sky lies within the old, astronomically obsolete constellation Quadrans Muralis. That ...

2019 December 13 Full Moon Geminids Image Credit & Copyright: Juan Carlos Casado (TWAN) Explanation: The dependable annual Geminid meteor shower will be near its peak tonight (December 13/14) and before tomorrow’s dawn. As Earth crosses through the dusty trail of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon the meteors will flash through the sky from the shower&#...

2019 December 8 Geminid Meteors over Chile Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN) Explanation: Are meteors streaming out from a point in the sky? Yes, in a way. When the Earth crosses a stream of Sun-orbiting meteors, these meteors appear to come from the direction of the stream — with the directional poin...

2019 August 15 The Perseids and the Plough Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai (TWAN) Explanation: Despite interfering moonlight, many denizens of planet Earth were able to watch this year’s Perseid meteor shower. This pastoral scene includes local skygazers admiring the shower’s brief, heavenly flashes in predawn hours near peak activity on A...