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Credit & Copyright: Tomöå Slovinskö
Explanation:
Where are all of these meteors coming from?
In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the
constellation
of Gemini.
That is why the major
meteor shower in December is known as the
Geminids --
because shower meteors all appear to come from a
radiant toward Gemini.
Three dimensionally, however,
sand-sized debris
expelled from the unusual asteroid
3200 Phaethon
follows a well-defined orbit about our Sun,
and the part of the orbit that approaches
Earth
is superposed in front of the
constellation of Gemini.
Therefore, when Earth
crosses this orbit, the
radiant point of
falling debris appears in Gemini.
Featured here
is a composite of
many images taken over the past few days
through dark skies from
Slovakia and capturing the snow-covered
peaks of the
Belianske Tatra mountains
Numerous
bright meteor
streaks from the
Geminids meteor shower are visible.
Orion is visible above the horizon,
while the bright star nearest the radiant is
Castor.
APOD Review:
RJN's Night Sky Network Lecture
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Geminids - meteor shower
Publications with words: Geminids - meteor shower
See also: