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 December 17
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                              Gemini's Meteors
             Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Stefano Pellegrini

   Explanation: Taken over the course of an hour shortly after local
   midnight on December 13, 35 exposures were used to create this postcard
   from Earth. The composited night scene spans dark skies above the snowy
   Italian Dolomites during our fair planet's [5]annual Geminid meteor
   shower. Sirius, alpha star of Canis Major and the brightest star in the
   night, is grazed by a meteor streak on the right. The Praesepe star
   cluster, also known as M44 or the Beehive cluster, [6]itself contains
   about a thousand stars but appears as a smudge of light far above the
   southern alpine peaks near the top. The shower's radiant is off the top
   of the frame though, near Castor and Pollux the twin stars of Gemini.
   The radiant effect is due to perspective as the parallel meteor tracks
   [7]appear to converge in the distance. As Earth sweeps through the dust
   trail of asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the [8]dust that creates Gemini's
   meteors enters Earth's atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per
   second.

                 Tomorrow's picture: December's diamond ring
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [20]Robert Nemiroff ([21]MTU) & [22]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([23]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [24]Specific rights apply.
              [25]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [26]ASD at [27]NASA / [28]GSFC
                           & [29]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2012/GeminidMeteorsStePelle.jpg
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://pels.it/photo/#contact
   5. https://www.amsmeteors.org/2020/12/viewing-the-geminid-meteor-shower-in-2020/
   6. https://earthsky.org/clusters-nebulae-galaxies/praesepe-beehive-cluster
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap151217.html
   8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-meteors/meteors-and-meteorites/overview/
   9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201216.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  13. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  18. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=201217
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201218.html
  20. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  21. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  23. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  25. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  26. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/
  28. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  29. http://www.mtu.edu/