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Credit & Copyright: Hao Liu (Stanford University)  
  
 
Explanation:
Colorful and bright, this streaking fireball meteor was captured in  
a single exposure taken at  
Purple Mountain  
(Tsuchinshan)  
ObservatoryÁs Xuyi Station in  
2020, during planet Earth's annual Perseid meteor shower.  
  
The dome in the foreground houses  
the China Near Earth Object Survey Telescope (CNEOST),  
the largest multi-purpose Schmidt telescope in China.  
  
Located in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province,  
the station began its operation  
as an extension of China's Purple Mountain Observatory  
in 2006.  
  
Darling  
of planet Earth's night skies  
in 2024, the bright comet designated  
Tsuchinshan-ATLAS  
(C/2023 A3)  
was discovered in images taken there on 2023 January 9.  
  
The discovery is jointly credited to NASA's  
ATLAS  
robotic survey telescope  
at Sutherland Observatory, South Africa.  
  
Other comet discoveries associated with the historic Purple Mountain  
Observatory and bearing the observatory's  
transliterated Mandarin name include  
periodic comets 60/P Tsuchinshan and 62/P Tsuchinshan.  
  
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A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Observatory - fireball
Publications with words: Observatory - fireball
See also:
