Posted on 08/23/2023 1:25:39 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: It came from outer space. It -- in this case a sand-sized bit of a comet nucleus -- was likely ejected many years ago from Sun-orbiting Comet Swift-Tuttle, but then continued to orbit the Sun alone. When the Earth crossed through this orbit, the piece of comet debris impacted the atmosphere of our fair planet and was seen as a meteor. This meteor deteriorated, causing gases to be emitted that glowed in colors emitted by its component elements. The featured image was taken last week from Castilla La Mancha, Spain, during the peak night of the Perseids meteor shower. The picturesque meteor streak happened to appear in the only one of 50 frames that also included the Andromeda galaxy. Stars dot the frame, each much further away than the meteor. Compared to the stars, the Andromeda galaxy (M31) is, again, much further away.
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.
Nice!
Pretty neat!
“This meteor deteriorated, causing gases to be emitted that glowed in colors emitted by its component elements.”
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There is much more than that going on in this image.
Nice effect due to the long exposure letting us see where those gasses blew. That bit that wound up looking like parallel plasma streams might be interesting to study more closely. Deceleration shock waves effects?
And are we seeing where some of those gasses condensed back into dust?
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