Astronomy

Posted on Aug 8, 2021

APOD: 2021 August 8 - A Perseid Below

Maj William W. 'Bill' Price

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Good morning, Rallypoint. Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) is titled "A Perseid Below." See the streak just right of center? That's a meteor. A Perseid meteor, to be precise. The Perseid Meteor shower peaks this next week, and we also don't have to deal with a bright Moon. If the weather is clear where you are, try to find a dark spot and look up. The meteors will appear to come from the constellation Perseus, which is bounded by Cassiopeia to the north and Andromeda to the west. The Perseids peak the night of Wednesday, August 11, through the predawn hours of Thursday, August 12, when Earth makes its way through the densest cloud of debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.

Swift-Tuttle (officially designated 109P/Swift–Tuttle) was was independently discovered by Lewis Swift on July 16, 1862 and by Horace Parnell Tuttle on July 19, 1862. Its orbital period is 133 years, and I remember its last appearance in 1992. It will return again in 2126. At least we can enjoy part of the story each August!

APOD: 2021 August 8 - A Perseid Below

Posted from apod.nasa.gov

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Edited 3 y ago

Posted 3 y ago

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LTC Stephen F.

Posted 3 y ago

Steve Miller - Space Cowboy

live performance Beat Club 1976

Thank you my friend and brother-in-Christ Maj William W. 'Bill' Price for posting the NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) for Saturday, August 7, 2021 entitled "A Perseid Below."

Image: A Perseid Below - Image Credit - NASA ISS Expedition 28 Crew, Ron Garan

APOD background
"Image Credit: NASA ISS Expedition 28 Crew, Ron Garan
Explanation: Earthlings typically watch meteor showers by looking up. But this remarkable view, captured on August 13, 2011 by astronaut Ron Garan, caught a Perseid meteor by looking down. From Garan's perspective onboard the International Space Station orbiting at an altitude of about 380 kilometers, the Perseid meteors streak below, swept up dust left from comet Swift-Tuttle heated to incandescence. The glowing comet dust grains are traveling at about 60 kilometers per second through the denser atmosphere around 100 kilometers above Earth's surface. In this case, the foreshortened meteor flash is right of frame center, below the curving limb of the Earth and a layer of greenish airglow, just below bright star Arcturus. Want to look up at a meteor shower? You're in luck, as the 2021 Perseids meteor shower peaks this week. This year, even relatively faint meteors should be visible through clear skies from a dark location as the bright Moon will mostly absent.

I expect this music video was popular on the ISS
Steve Miller Band - Space Cowboy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwoiy-Fwm0E
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. LTC (Join to see) SMSgt Lawrence McCarter Sgt (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SSG Samuel Kermon A1C Riley Sanders GySgt Thomas Vick CPL Douglas Chrysler GySgt Jack Wallace 1SG Steven Imerman MSgt James Clark-Rosa SGT (Join to see)SSG Derrick Iozzio CPO Arthur Weinberger SMSgt Mark Venzeio

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LTC Stephen F.

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