File:The 2010 Perseids over the VLT.jpg
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DescriptionThe 2010 Perseids over the VLT.jpg |
Afrikaans: Jaarliks in middel-Augustus bereik die Perseïde-meteoorreën sy hoogtepunt. Meteore, algemeen bekend as "verskietende sterre", word veroorsaak deur stukke kosmiese puin wat die aarde se atmosfeer teen hoë snelheid binnedring, en 'n spoor van gloeiende gasse agterlaat. Die meeste deeltjies wat meteore veroorsaak, is kleiner as 'n sandkorrel en sal gewoonlik in die atmosfeer disintegreer. Enkeles bereik die oppervlak van die Aarde as 'n meteoriet.
Die Perseïde-reën vind plaas as die Aarde deur die stroom van puin beweeg wat deur komeet Swift-Tuttle agtergelaat word. In 2010 is die piek voorspel om van 12 tot 13 Augustus 2010 plaas te vind. Ten spyte daarvan dat die Perseïdes, weens die oriëntasie van die baan van komeet Swift-Tuttle, beste uit die noordelike halfrond sigbaar was, was die reën tog in die besonder donker naghemel oor ESO se Paranal-sterrewag in Chili sigbaar. Om geen meteore mis te kyk nie, het ESO-fotoambassadeur Stephane Guisard 3 kameras opgestel om in aaneenlopende intervalle foto's vanaf die platform van die Baie Groot Teleskoop tydens die nagte van 12-13 en 13-14 Augustus 2010 te neem. Hierdie uitgesoekte foto van die nag van 13-14 Augustus, was een van Guisard se 8 000 beligtings, en toon een van die helderste meteore wat opgemerk is. Die sterrewag is verlig deur rooi lig van die ondergaande Maan links van die fotobeeld. English: Every year in mid-August the Perseid meteor shower has its peak. Meteors, colloquially known as “shooting stars”, are caused by pieces of cosmic debris entering Earth’s atmosphere at high velocity, leaving a trail of glowing gases. Most of the particles that cause meteors are smaller than a grain of sand and usually disintegrate in the atmosphere, only rarely reaching the Earth’s surface as a meteorite.
The Perseid shower takes place as the Earth moves through the stream of debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. In 2010 the peak was predicted to take place between 12–13 August 2010. Despite the Perseids being best visible in the northern hemisphere, due to the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit, the shower was also spotted from the exceptionally dark skies over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. In order not to miss any meteors in the display, ESO Photo Ambassador Stéphane Guisard set up 3 cameras to take continuous time-lapse pictures on the platform of the Very Large Telescope during the nights of 12–13 and 13–14 August 2010. This handpicked photograph, from the night of 13–14 August, was one of Guisard’s 8000 individual exposures and shows one of the brightest meteors captured. The scene is lit by the reddened light of the setting Moon outside the left of the frame. |
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Source | http://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1033a/ | ||||
Author | ESO/S. Guisard | ||||
Permission (Reusing this file) |
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16 August 2010
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Date and time of data generation | 10:10, 16 August 2010 |
Credit/Provider | ESO/S. Guisard (sguisard.astrosurf.com) |
Source | European Southern Observatory |
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Contact information |
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2 Garching bei München, , D-85748 Germany |
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IIM version | 4 |
JPEG file comment | Every year in mid-August the Perseid meteor shower has its peak. Meteors, colloquially known as “shooting stars”, are caused by pieces of cosmic debris entering Earth’s atmosphere at high velocity, leaving a trail of glowing gases. Most of the particles that cause meteors are smaller than a grain of sand and usually disintegrate in the atmosphere, only rarely reaching the Earth’s surface as a meteorite. The Perseid shower takes place as the Earth moves through the stream of debris left behind by Comet Swift-Tuttle. In 2010 the peak was predicted to take place between 12–13 August 2010. Despite the Perseids being best visible in the northern hemisphere, due to the path of Comet Swift-Tuttle's orbit, the shower was also spotted from the exceptionally dark skies over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. In order not to miss any meteors in the display, ESO Photo Ambassador Stéphane Guisard set up 3 cameras to take continuous time-lapse pictures on the platform of the Very Large Telescope during the nights of 12–13 and 13–14 August 2010. This handpicked photograph, from the night of 13–14 August, was one of Guisard’s 8000 individual exposures and shows one of the brightest meteors captured. The scene is lit by the reddened light of the setting Moon outside the left of the frame. Although the comet debris particles are travelling parallel to each other, the meteors appear to radiate from a spot on the sky in the constellation of Perseus (here seen very low on the horizon and partly covered by the VLT enclosures). This effect is due to perspective, as the parallel tracks seem to converge at a distance. The apparent origin in Perseus is what gives the Perseid meteor shower its name. Around the globe, many thousands of people were out observing the Perseids. Some of them took part in citizen science projects such as Meteorwatch and the annual campaign organised by the International Meteor Organization (IMO). According to the IMO measurements, the 2010 Perseid meteor shower was above normal with a peak activity of over 100 meteors per hour under optimal viewing conditions, but not spectacular. In the coming nights the Perseids will still be visible, but with fewer and fewer meteors night by night. Links More about the 2010 Perseids at the International Meteor Organization: http://www.imo.net/live/perseids2010/ More about ESO's Photo Ambassadors Meteorwatch: http://www.meteorwatch.org/ |