Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2021 February 2

                        A Colorful Quadrantid Meteor
                   Image Credit & Copyright: Frank Kuszaj

   Explanation: Meteors can be colorful. While the human eye usually
   cannot discern many colors, cameras often can. Pictured is a
   Quadrantids meteor captured by camera over Missouri, USA, early this
   month that was not only impressively bright, but colorful. The radiant
   grit, likely cast off by asteroid 2003 EH1, blazed a path across
   Earth's atmosphere. Colors in meteors usually originate from ionized
   elements released as the meteor disintegrates, with blue-green
   typically originating from magnesium, calcium radiating violet, and
   nickel glowing green. Red, however, typically originates from energized
   nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere. This bright meteoric
   fireball was gone in a flash -- less than a second -- but it left a
   wind-blown ionization trail that remained visible for several minutes.

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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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