Subj : Daily APOD Report
To   : All
From : Alan Ianson
Date : Thu Dec 16 2021 14:06:07

                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    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

                            Geminids of the South
                   Image Credit & Copyright: 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 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 Geminid meteor streaks appear to converge at an
   antiradiant below the southern horizon. The shower's apparent radiant
   (and antiradiant) is just due to perspective though. As Earth sweeps
   through the dust trail of 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
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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