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.

                                 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 appear to came from a
   radiant toward Lyra. In terms of parent body, though, the sand-sized
   debris that makes up the Lyrid meteors come from Comet Thatcher. The
   comet follows a well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the
   orbit that approaches Earth is superposed in front of Lyra. Therefore,
   when Earth crosses this orbit, the radiant point of falling debris
   appears in Lyra. Featured here, a composite image containing over 33
   meteors (can you find them all?) from last month's Lyrid meteor shower
   shows several bright meteors that streaked over a shore of Sec Lake in
   the Czech Republic. Also visible are the bright stars Vega and Altair,
   the planet Jupiter, and the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy.

             Notable APOD Submissions: Lyrid Meteor Shower 2020
                       Tomorrow's picture: jupiter IR
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
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