Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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. 2021 December 16 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Geminids of the South Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Fefo Bouvier Explanation: Fireflies flash along a moonlit countryside in this scene taken on the night of December 13/14 from southern Uruguay, planet Earth. On that night meteors fell in the partly cloudy skies above during the [5]annual Geminid meteor shower. Frames recorded over a period of 1.5 hours are aligned in the composite image made with the camera facing south. That direction was opposite the shower's radiant toward the north and so the [6]Geminid meteor streaks appear to converge at an antiradiant below the southern horizon. The shower's apparent radiant (and [7]antiradiant) is just due to perspective though. As Earth sweeps through the dust trail of [8]mysterious asteroid 3200 Phaethon, the dust grains that create the Geminid shower meteors are really moving along parallel tracks. They enter Earth's atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second. Tomorrow's picture: Geminids of the North __________________________________________________________________ [9]< | [10]Archive | [11]Submissions | [12]Index | [13]Search | [14]Calendar | [15]RSS | [16]Education | [17]About APOD | [18]Discuss | [19]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [20]Robert Nemiroff ([21]MTU) & [22]Jerry Bonnell ([23]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [24]Specific rights apply. [25]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [26]ASD at [27]NASA / [28]GSFC & [29]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2112/geminids_2021_fefo_bouvier.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.fefobouvier.com/ 5. https://blogs.nasa.gov/Watch_the_Skies/2021/12/09/geminid-meteor-shower-nasa-to-livestream-annual-highlight-of-december-skies/ 6. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-geminid-meteor-shower/ 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200318.html 8. https://phys.org/news/2019-12-nrl-camera-aboard-nasa-spacecraft-asteroid.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211215.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 13. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 18. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211216 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211217.html 20. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 21. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 23. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 25. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 26. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 27. https://www.nasa.gov/ 28. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 29. http://www.mtu.edu/