¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 August 10 [2]See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available. Perseids from Perseus Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Petr Horálek Explanation: Where are all these meteors coming from? In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the [4]constellation of Perseus. That is why the meteor shower that peaks tomorrow night is known as the [5]Perseids -- the [6]meteors all appear to came from a [7]radiant toward Perseus. In terms of parent body, though, the [8]sand-sized debris that makes up the [9]Perseids meteors come from [10]Comet Swift-Tuttle. The comet follows a [11]well-defined orbit around our Sun, and the part of the orbit that [12]approaches Earth is superposed in front of the Perseus. Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the [13]radiant point of falling debris appears in Perseus. [14]Featured here, a composite image taken over eight nights and containing over 400 meteors from last August's [15]Perseids meteor shower shows many [16]bright meteors that [17]streaked over [18]Kolonica Observatory in [19]Slovakia. This year's [20]Perseids holds promise to be [21]one of the best [22]meteor showers of the [23]year. Tomorrow's picture: high on jupiter __________________________________________________________________ [24]< | [25]Archive | [26]Submissions | [27]Index | [28]Search | [29]Calendar | [30]RSS | [31]Education | [32]About APOD | [33]Discuss | [34]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell ([38]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [39]Specific rights apply. [40]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [41]ASD at [42]NASA / [43]GSFC & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2008/NightOfThePerseids_Horalek_1800.jpg 3. http://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?page_id=20 4. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/const.html 5. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150813.html 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87HLPficmfE 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070812.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteoroid#Meteor 9. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/perseids/in-depth/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap960219.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180808.html 12. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vzf3tW7n2VM/T5C-PyI7DII/AAAAAAAACZY/UCr8FgmMQxE/s400/bigstock-Dog-with-globe-Our-world-is-i-25891268.JPG 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_(meteor_shower) 14. https://www.astronom.cz/horalek/?p=6509 15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap081125.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090302.html 18. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HpMVwLGwOI 19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slovakia 20. https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2020/08/06/perseids-peak-watch-best-meteor-shower-of-the-year/ 21. https://www.amsmeteors.org/meteor-showers/2017-meteor-shower-list/ 22. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hch_mP7IqM 23. https://www.amsmeteors.org/2020/08/viewing-the-perseid-meteor-shower-in-2020/ 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200809.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 33. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=200810 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200811.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 41. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 44. http://www.mtu.edu/