Astronomy Picture of the Day 8-16-02

NASA ^ | 8-16-02 | Robert Nemiroff & Jerry Bonnell

[mtngrl@vrwc]

Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

2002 August 16

Rainbow Perseid
Credit & Copyright: Dirk Obudzinski

Explanation: While meteors do show colors, the colors aren't always seen with the unaided eye. Still, high speed color film recorded this rainbow-like trail as a meteor streaked through the early morning sky on August 13 above Sedona, Arizona, USA. Part of the annual Perseid meteor shower, this bit of dust from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle entered Earth's atmosphere at over 200,000 kilometers per hour. The trail it left glowed briefly as friction with the atmosphere vaporized the dust grain and ionized atoms along its path. The initial green color is thought to be the glow from oxygen in the atmosphere at altitudes above 100 kilometers or so, while sodium atoms and other constituents of the cometary dust grain itself contribute to the orange hues.

[mtngrl@vrwc]

Astronomy Fun Fact:

In ancient times, objects in the night sky conjured superstition and were associated with gods and religion. But the misunderstandings about meteors lasted longer than those of most celestial objects.

Meteorites (the pieces that make it to Earth) were long ago thought to be cast down as gifts from angels. Others thought the gods were displaying their anger. As late as the 17th Century, many believed they fell from thunderstorms (they were nicknamed "thunderstones"). Many scientists were skeptical that stones could fall from the the clouds or the heavens, and often they simply didn't believe the accounts of people who claimed to have seen such things.

In 1807, a fireball exploded over Connecticut, and several meteorites rained down. By then, the first handful of asteroids had been discovered, and a new theory emerged suggesting meteorites were broken bits off asteroids or other planets. (A theory that still holds.)

Get on the APOD PING list!

[mtngrl@vrwc]

APOD PING!

[RadioAstronomer]

Ooooo!! Thanks for helping with the APOD! :-))))

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Thank you so much. This is my favorite aspect of FR these days. Nice way to end the evening. :o)

[mtngrl@vrwc]

I love APOD too! What a wonderful thread it is! I learn so much from it.

[2Trievers]

" In 1807, a fireball exploded over Connecticut ..."

Was that the year Lowell Weicker left office as governor? Geesh that was 1990, or there abouts.

[sleavelessinseattle]

Hey 2T, Are you sure that fireball wasn't just a backfire from that VW you tear up CT's country roads in? Here is a cool shot with constellations added on! Great for spotting stars on the real sky rather than a chart in a book, IMHO!

Incidentally you'll notice some movement of the landscape as the camera was mounted on a motor drive to follow the rotation of the earth...trees don't move that much!APOD ROCKS!

[farmfriend]

What happened to the pictures? I can't load this one and I went to an old one and it won't load either.

[sleavelessinseattle]

FF I guess I'm the one who must hypothesize what is going on...All the archived APOD sites seem to be down at the moment...I first noticed it about 90 minutes ago and have been bouncing around the world seeing if any mirror sites were up...The following image is by the same person who posted the picture that is the central image tonight...I never saw what the real one linked to...Links that do not point to ANTWRP are still functioning however! I imagine the prob will be corrected shortly...Here is what I feel is an example of the multihued meteor trail contributed by the author of tonights APOD...

[sleavelessinseattle]

Here is a link to a Taiwan mirror of NASA's APOD that includes all the linked images as well...Note that the 16th apod is not available...Proof Positive that this is not a FR problem...BR SS

Click Here to visit Taiwan's English APOD Backup site

[MozartLover]

bump

[BossyRoofer]

Sites still down. I'll try later!

[Sock]

Thanks, you guys!

"Great for spotting stars on the real sky rather than a chart in a book, IMHO!"

I agree with you. Have you got a link for more of these real sky photos?

[sleavelessinseattle]

It would be funnier if I could have Right Whale break this to you, but twas a fluke. Pinging FarmFriend...The elves at NASA seem to have restored the main APOD Source to its full functionality! If I see any gossip on what happened I'll post it here. I'm thinking Pepsi Syndrome...exacerbated by Cheeto dust accretion, no doubt!

[sleavelessinseattle]

Ah Dooon't knoo hae lang Ah Can keep it up...Ah NEED moer Power Bosseh boot She's OOP at thae moment, Get it while ye Can Laddiebuck! (So that's what Jimmie Doohan is doing in his retirement!) You can take the engineer out of the Enterprise But Ye kin Nae take the Enterprise oot of the Engineer, Thats ferr shoooor!

[mtngrl@vrwc]

I went to bed last night totally oblivious that there was a problem with the APOD site. It was all loading ok the last time I knew and it seems to be ok now too. Man, it just had to happen on my watch, huh? LOL!

[sleavelessinseattle]

There was nothing I could do either! every mirror site was disabled as well...You actually posted more than anyone else in the WORLD before it crashed! LOL...Janet on the spot!!! It pays to grab at the server the minute 9 pacific rolls around and that's what you did MG! You'd make a great Martian Brick!

[RightWhale]

Meteorites were the first source of iron, kicked off the iron age. The greek word for iron was "sideros", meaning "from the sky." The egyptian pictogram for iron was the sky, with meteors, and a crucible. Iron was found laying on the ground, and it was good iron, too, didn't rust like smelted iron.

[farmfriend]

Evrything loading well now. Great pictures.

[MeekOneGOP]

Thanks for the ping, Miss Mtngrl ! Good job !