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.

                               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 point called the radiant.  An example occurs every
   mid-December for the Geminids meteor shower, as apparent in the
   featured image.  Recorded near the shower's peak in 2013, the featured
   skyscape captures Gemini's shooting stars in a four-hour composite from
   the dark skies of the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. In the
   foreground the 2.5-meter du Pont Telescope is visible as well as the
   1-meter SWOPE telescope. The skies beyond the meteors are highlighted
   by Jupiter, seen as the bright spot near the image center, the central
   band of our Milky Way Galaxy, seen vertically on the image left, and
   the pinkish Orion Nebula on the far left. Dust swept up from the orbit
   of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere
   traveling at about 22 kilometers per second. The 2019 Geminid meteor
   shower peaks again this coming weekend.

                    Tomorrow's picture: the sun sideways
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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