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Credit & Copyright: Petr Horálek
Explanation:
Where are all of these meteors coming from?
In terms of direction on the sky, the pointed answer is the
constellation of Small Harp (Lyra).
That is why the famous meteor shower that peaks every April is known as the
Lyrids -- the
meteors
all appear to came from a
radiant toward
Lyra.
In terms of parent body, though, the
sand-sized debris
that makes up the Lyrid meteors come from
Comet Thatcher.
The comet follows a well-defined orbit around our
Sun,
and the part of the orbit that
approaches Earth is superposed in front of Lyra.
Therefore, when Earth crosses this orbit, the
radiant point of falling debris appears in Lyra.
Featured here, a composite
image containing over 33 meteors (can you find them all?) from last month's
Lyrid meteor shower shows several
bright meteors that
streaked over a shore of Seä Lake in the
Czech Republic.
Also visible are the bright stars
Vega and
Altair, the planet
Jupiter, and the central band of our
Milky Way Galaxy.
Notable APOD Submissions:
Lyrid Meteor Shower 2020
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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: Lyra
Publications with words: Lyra