Meteor before Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
Explanation: What’s that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy’s far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth’s atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor’s gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks later this week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon.
Tomorrow’s picture: celestial lagoon
星系前方的流星
影像提供与版权: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
说明: 仙女座星系前方的泛绿光痕是什么？一颗流星。于2016年拍摄仙女座星系之时，适逢英仙座流星雨极大期左右，突现一颗来自外太空的小沙岩，掠过我们银河系遥远伴星系之正前方。这颗小流星，只用了极短的时间就通过这片宽10度的视野。在进入地球大气之后，剧烈减速的这颗流星发生数次爆发。这颗流星汽化后所产生明亮气体，其泛绿的色泽可能是源自镍。虽然这幅影像的曝光设定是为了拍摄英仙座流星，然而依所拍到的流星之指向来判断，它较可能是极大期在数星期之前的宝瓶座δ南流星雨之流星。今年的英仙座流星雨极大期落在这个周末，只不过，今年的流星得与近满相明月所照亮的夜空争辉。
明日的图片: celestial lagoon
