Posted on 08/11/2024 1:13:54 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: Where do Perseid meteors come from? Mostly small bits of stony grit, Perseid meteoroids were once expelled from Comet Swift-Tuttle and continue to follow this comet's orbit as they slowly disperse. The featured animation depicts the entire meteoroid stream as it orbits our Sun. When the Earth nears this stream, as it does every year, the Perseid Meteor Shower occurs. Highlighted as bright in the animation, comet debris this size is usually so dim it is practically undetectable. Only a small fraction of this debris will enter the Earth's atmosphere, heat up and disintegrate brightly. Tonight and the next few nights promise some of the better skies to view the Perseid shower as well as other active showers because the first quarter moon will be absent from the sky from midnight onward.
Today's image is an animation at the source link
Note: the reason meteorites are seen most often after midnight is the direction of Earth’s movement around the sun relative to the spin that causes night and day. Midnight until noon the overhead sky is on the side of motion around the sun so a meteorite hitting earth is like a bug hitting the windshield of a car. From noon until midnight the overhead sky is on the back side of motion around the sun so a meteorite hitting earth is like a bug hitting the rear window of a car.
=;^)
Breathtakingly beautiful animation!
My wonderful daughter was conceived about the time that Comet Swift-Tuttle last swept by the Sun in 1992, and she was born the following August during the Perseid meteor shower. So our family has a special connection to that particular comet and annual meteor event.
Today's APOD animation, all by itself, more than justifies my long-standing place on the APOD Ping List :-)
Thank you MtnClimber!!
Good call, Meteor showers are the most disappointing thing in science.
I feel like Linus in the pumpkin patch every year I stay up to see them and see nothing or clouds
https://www.universalworkshop.com/guy-ottewell/the-astronomical-companion/
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