Astronomy Picture Of The Day Explore the cosmos Every day, a new image or photograph of the fascinating universe is presented along with a short explanation by an astronomer. 2021 August 20
Three Perseid Nights
Image Credit and Copyright: Balint Lengyel
Explanation: This composite night skyscape was created by frames from a camera that captured three nights of moonless photography. These frames were taken during August 11-13, as planet Earth was passing through the dusty trail left by comet Swift-Tuttle. The long exposure was untracked in the foreground. Star tracking captures of meteors from the Perseid shower were taken from Magyaregres, Hungary. The meteor trails, which are aligned against the background stars and point back to Perseid shower's radiant in constellation Perseus, all point back at this rural horizon. The comet dust particles travel along parallel trajectories. This radiant effect can only be explained by perspective. The parallel tracks seem to merge in the distance against the starry night.
