Posted on 04/24/2014 7:42:00 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Earth's annual Lyrid meteor shower peaked before dawn on April 22nd, as our fair planet plowed through dust from the tail of long-period comet Thatcher. Even in the dry and dark Atacama desert along Chile's Pacific coast, light from a last quarter Moon made the night sky bright, washing out fainter meteor streaks. But brighter Lyrid meteors still put on a show. Captured in this composited earth-and-sky view recorded during early morning hours, the meteors stream away from the shower's radiant near Vega, alpha star of the constellation Lyra. The radiant effect is due to perspective as the parallel meteor tracks appear to converge in the distance. Rich starfields and dust clouds of our own Milky Way galaxy stretch across the background.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Las Campanas Observatory, Carnegie Institution)]
http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/cmor-radiants
http://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/cmor-radiants/earth.html
Related.
What spaceguard radar says it looks like.
Look for the purple blob labeled “Lyr”
We had been living for just a few days in a rented house in Northern California when I went
outside for (I forget what) in the yard.
I just happened to look up at the predawn sky, and I saw a meteor streak from north to south
across the entire visible sky, which was a lot because the house was on a hill. It lasted for
about two seconds, and it was very bright.
Neatest astrological thing I ever saw with my bare eyes.
At least it wasn’t a meteorite.
It’s always nice of the gods to place text labels & markers in the sky to help identify the features .....
;’)
Every time a good meteor shower happens, I either have heavy cloud cover, or I’m asleep.
:-/
Yes, same here. The southwest coast has a lot more sunny days and clear nights than the eastern part of the country.
I missed the eclipse, but fortunately there were a lot of photos and videos of it. Not the same, though.
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