by APOD Robot » Mon Dec 23, 2013 5:14 am
Geminid Meteors over Chile
Explanation: From a radiant point in the constellation of the Twins, the
annual Geminid meteor shower rained down on planet Earth over the past few weeks. Recorded near the shower's peak over the night of December 13 and 14, the above
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.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131223.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_131223.jpg[/img] [size=150]Geminid Meteors over Chile[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] From a radiant point in the constellation of the Twins, the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geminids]annual Geminid meteor shower[/url] rained down on planet Earth over the past few weeks. Recorded near the shower's peak over the night of December 13 and 14, the above [url=https://www.facebook.com/APOD.Sky]sky[/url]scape captures Gemini's shooting stars in a four-hour composite from the dark skies of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Campanas_Observatory]Las Campanas Observatory[/url] in [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile]Chile[/url]. In the foreground the 2.5-meter [url=http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/dupont]du Pont Telescope[/url] is visible as well as the 1-meter [url=http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/swope]SWOPE telescope[/url]. The skies beyond the meteors are highlighted by [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap001212.html]Jupiter[/url], seen as the bright spot near the image center, the central band of our [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130429.html]Milky Way Galaxy[/url], seen vertically on the image left, and the pinkish [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131029.html]Orion Nebula[/url] on the far left. Dust swept up from the orbit of [url=http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.5220]active asteroid[/url] [url=http://arxiv.org/abs/1009.2710]3200 Phaethon[/url], Gemini's meteors enter the atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second.
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