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Credit & Copyright: Ron Garan,
ISS Expedition 28 Crew,
NASA
Explanation:
Denizens of planet Earth typically watch meteor showers
by looking up.
But this
remarkable view, captured
on August 13, 2011 by astronaut
Ron Garan, caught a Perseid meteor by looking down.
From Garan's
perspective onboard the
International Space Station
orbiting at an altitude of about 380 kilometers,
the Perseid meteors streak below,
swept up dust
left from comet Swift-Tuttle heated to incandescence.
The glowing comet dust
grains are traveling at
about 60 kilometers per second through
the denser atmosphere around 100 kilometers above Earth's surface.
In this case, the foreshortened meteor flash is right
of frame center,
below the curving limb of the Earth and a layer of greenish
airglow, just below bright star
Arcturus.
Want to look up at a meteor shower?
You're in luck, as the 2014
Perseids meteor shower
peaks this week.
Unfortunately, the fainter meteors in this year's shower
will be hard to see in a relatively bright sky lit by the glow of a nearly full Moon.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Perseids
Publications with words: Perseids
See also: