2025年8月6日
Meteor before Galaxy
Image Credit & Copyright: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
Explanation: What’s that green streak in front of the Andromeda galaxy? A meteor. While photographing the Andromeda galaxy in 2016, near the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower, a small pebble from deep space crossed right in front of our Milky Way Galaxy‘s far-distant companion. The small meteor took only a fraction of a second to pass through this 10-degree field. The meteor flared several times while braking violently upon entering Earth’s atmosphere. The green color was created, at least in part, by the meteor’s gas glowing as it vaporized. Although the exposure was timed to catch a Perseid meteor, the orientation of the imaged streak seems a better match to a meteor from the Southern Delta Aquariids, a meteor shower that peaked a few weeks earlier. Not coincidentally, the Perseid Meteor Shower peaks next week, although this year the meteors will have to outshine a sky brightened by a nearly full moon.
Tomorrow’s picture: 11011 days
星系前方的流星
影像提供与版权: Fritz Helmut Hemmerich
说明: 那道在仙女座星系前方的绿色光迹是什么？那是一颗流星。 在2016年拍摄仙女座星系时，正值英仙座 流星 雨极大期，一颗来自深太空的小石子正好掠过我们银河系的遥远伴星系的前方。这颗小流星用不到一秒的时间就穿过了这片10度宽的视野。流星在高速进入地球大气层后，出现数次闪燃发光。这道绿色光芒至少部分是由于流星在汽化成气体发光所致。虽然曝光时间的设定是为了捕捉英仙座流星，但影像中流星迹的方向似乎更符合来自南三角座流星雨的流星，而这群流星雨则在几周前达到极大期。无独有偶，英仙座流星雨将在下周达到极大期，然而今年的流星将不得不与几乎满月的明亮夜空争辉。
明日的图片: 11011 days
