APOD: 2021 December 16

Discover the universe! Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by an astronomer.

December 16th, 2021.
See the explanation. Clicking on the picture will bring you to the download page.
The highest resolution version is available.

There are similarities between the South and the North.
Fefo Bouvier's image credit is copyrighted.

Firefly flash along a moonlit countryside in this scene taken on the night of December 13/14 from southern Uruguay, planet Earth. During the annual Geminid meteor shower, the partly cloudy skies allowed for the shooting of stars. The frames were recorded over a period of 1.5 hours. The shower's radiant was to the north and so the streaks appear to converge at an antiradiant below the southern horizon. Perspective is to blame for the shower's apparent antiradiant. The dust trail of the asteroid is moving along parallel tracks as Earth sweeps through it. They enter Earth's atmosphere at a rate of 22 kilometers per second.

The picture is of the north.

Robert Nemiroff is an author and Jerry Bonnell is an editor.
Phillip Newman has specific rights.
NASA has a privacy policy on the internet.
There is a service at NASA.
& Michigan Tech. U.

Page 2

Discover the universe! Each day a different image or photograph of our universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by an astronomer.

December 17th, 2021.
See the explanation. Clicking on the picture will bring you to the download page.
The highest resolution version is available.

The North was found to be similar to the Sagittarius of the South.
The image is copyrighted by Alvin Wu.

Earth fills the foreground of the scene because of the arid expanse of the Tengger Desert. The panoramic view was recorded in the early hours of December 14. The stars of the northern winter hexagon are pictured in the dark sky. A bright fireball meteor was seen near the peak of the annual shower. The trail points back to the shower in the sky above the western horizon. The constellation is easy to spot. The stars are near the top of the frame.

Tomorrow's picture is light-weekend.

Robert Nemiroff is an author and Jerry Bonnell is an editor.
Phillip Newman has specific rights.
NASA has a privacy policy on the internet.
There is a service at NASA.
& Michigan Tech. U.