Astronomy Picture of the Day——双子座流星雨及其朋友们

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.

Geminidsand Friends

ImageCredit & Copyright: Daniel López (El Cielo de Canarias)

Explanation:From a radiant in the constellation of the Twins, the annual Geminid meteorshower rained down on our fair planet this week. This beautiful skyscapecollects about 70 of Gemini's lovely shooting stars in a digital compositionmade from multiple exposures. The exposures were taken over a six hour periodnear the shower's peak. The camera was tracking the dark predawn sky onDecember 14 from Teide National Park on the Canary Island Tenerife. ThoughGemini lies off the top left of the frame, the Milky Way sweeps through thestarry background. Sharing the sky below and left of center are recognizablestars and nebulosities of Orion. A yellowish Aldebaran and the Hyades aretoward the right along with the Pleiades star cluster. Also a welcome visitorto this night sky, the faint green coma of Comet 46P Wirtanen, closest to Earththis weekend, lies below the Pleiades stars. Dust swept up from the orbit ofactive asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini's meteors enter Earth's atmospheretraveling at about 35 kilometers per second.

双子座流星及其朋友们

解释：这幅美丽的星空风景照收集到约70%的双子座流星。这些影像拍摄于双子座流星雨峰值附近的6个多小时里。12月14日凌晨摄于加那利群岛的泰德国家公园。虽然双子座处于影像的左上方以外，银河正扫过繁星密布的背景天空。影像中心左下方是可以辨认的许多亮星和猎户座的小星云，向右泛黄色的毕宿五和毕星团以及昴星团。将于本周末最接近地球的威尔塔宁彗星的昏暗的绿色彗头位于昴星团的下方。