Posted on 08/20/2025 12:15:15 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: What are those curved arcs in the sky? Meteors -- specifically, meteors from this year's Perseid meteor shower. Over the past few weeks, after the sky darkened, many images of Perseid meteors were captured separately and merged into a single frame, taken earlier. Although the meteors all traveled on straight paths, these paths appear slightly curved by the wide-angle lens of the capturing camera. The meteor streaks can all be traced back to a single point on the sky called the radiant, here just off the top of the frame in the constellation of Perseus. The same camera took a deep image of the background sky that brought up the central band of our Milky Way galaxy running nearly vertically through the featured image's center. The limestone arch in the foreground in Dorset, England is known as Durdle Door, a name thought to survive from a thousand years ago.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
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The Perseids were ruined again this year by that cold-hearted orb that rules the night.
Everything about that scene is gorgeous!
I can see the Milky Way (yes, I know we’re IN IT!) from my front porch most of August. Not this year - we have had maybe TWO clear nights all month, it’s been raining so much, and the Canadian Wildfires have been smoking us in as well. :(
The Tears Of Saint Lawrence. Tortured to death August 10, AD 258 . As the Early Christians were taking away his burnt corpse they saw steaks in the sky as if the heavens were crying. We now know these meteors are pieces of the Comet Swift Tuttle. If the comet itself hit Earth it would be a bigger explosion that the one that killed the dinosaurs.
Swift Tuttle comes close to Earth in 2125. At 16 miles in diameter it would kill most species in Earth if it hit.
That’s a cool gif! Thanks for sharing.
Notice how it’s almost a head on collusion? Every 133 years is how often this repeats itself.
Well, that’s one way to solve the climate crisis. I've better start designing my comet-proof bunker...
There’s something ya don’t see everyday! Great photo!
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