APOD: Perseid Meteors Over Inner Mongolia (2024 Aug 26)

[APOD Robot]

Perseid Meteors Over Inner Mongolia

Explanation: Did you see it? One of the more common questions during a meteor shower occurs because the time it takes for a meteor to flash is similar to the time it takes for a head to turn. Possibly, though, the glory of seeing bright meteors shoot across the sky -- while knowing that they were once small pebbles on another world -- might make it all worthwhile, even if your observing partner(s) can't always share in your experience. The featured video is composed of short clips taken in Inner Mongolia, China during the 2023 Perseid Meteor Shower. Several bright meteors were captured while live-reaction audio was being recorded -- just as the meteors flashed. This year's 2024 Perseids also produced many beautiful meteors. Another good meteor shower to watch for is the Geminids which peak yearly in mid-December, this year with relatively little competing glow from a nearly new Moon.

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[wilddouglascounty@gmail.com]

It was cloudy all night this year where I live in Kansas so I really appreciated this. The video captures the effect of the meteors much better than photos do.

[Sputnik2Mars2020]

What is the moving point of light near the center of the video from seconds 33-40?
Also what is the star cluster that the point of light is moving toward in that time?

[Holger Nielsen]

This is what I have been able to identify:

0:20 - 0:23: Altair in Aquila at top
0:24 - 0:29: Hyades at top, Orion at bottom
0:29 - 0:33: Pleiades near center with Hyades below, bright object not identified.
0:33 - 0:40: Ditto.
0:54 - 0:59: Ditto. Bright object seems static
0:40 - 0:43: Ursa Minor at top (Poraris outside frame), Ursa Major at bottom.
1:12 - 1:18: Ditto.
1:39 - 1:45: Vega in Lyra at lower right.

[Sputnik2Mars2020]

Thanks Holger,
Are you seeing the small moving object?

[Holger Nielsen]

Thanks Holger,
Are you seeing the small moving object?

Yes, I see it now, moving towards the Pleiades. It is probably an artificial satellite.
But what is the bright stationary object?

[Holger Nielsen]

It is Jupiter, of course! I seached for it in the 2024 sky, but the film is from 2023.

[johnnydeep]

I notice that all the meteor trails seem to be a fairly uniform green (or at least end that way). Should we have expected that? Do other showers caused by differently composed space bodies result in differently colored meteors? Or is the green due primarily to the atmospheric composition at different altitudes rather than the make-up of the meteoroid fragment?

[florid_snow]

Another fun game of "what's that star!" The tiny, slowly moving star is definitely a satellite, the time of night here is closer to sunrise than sunset, and they are looking east, into the part of space already lit up with sunlight, a great time to see satellites and tumbling rocket bodies. The description says this was 2023, so the brightest star there is Jupiter, and Uranus is actually right there in the middle!

It's kinda funny to think, I just double-checked, it's been a year, so Jupiter has moved "left" in this image to the other side of the Hyades, but Uranus has barely moved, it's long slow orbit is almost equal to 7 Jupiter orbits, so it will take 7 years to cover the same distance.

edit: haha, seems we all posted at the same time, like it's lunch time or something