                  APOD: 2017 December 22 - Gemini s Meteors

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2017 December 22
                                      [2]
                              Gemini's Meteors
      Composite Image Credit & Copyright [3] : Jeff Dai [4] (TWAN [5] )

Explanation: From dark skies [6] above Heilongjiang province in northeastern
China, meteors rain down on a wintry landscape in this beautiful composited
night scene. The 48 meteors are part of last week's annual Geminid meteor
shower. Despite [7] temperatures of -28 degrees C, all were recorded in camera
exposures made during the peak hour of the celestial spectacle. They stream
away from the shower's radiant high above the horizon near the two bright
stars of the zodiacal constellation of the Twins. A very active shower [8] ,
this year the December 13-14 peak of the Geminids arrived just before the
December 16 closest approach [9]  of asteroid 3200 Phaethon to planet Earth.
Mysterious 3200 Phaethon [10]  is the Geminid shower's likely parent body.

                   Tomorrow's picture: meet the parent [11]

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [23] (MTU [24] ) & Jerry Bonnell [25]
                                  (UMCP [26] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [27] .
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              A service of: ASD [29]  at NASA [30]  / GSFC [31]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1712/GeminidMeteorShowerOverChina-Dai1500.jpg
  [3] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [4] http://www.twanight.org/Dai
  [5] http://www.twanight.org/
  [6] https://www.facebook.com/jeffjourneytothestars
  [7] image/1712/Frozen6D_Dai.jpg
  [8] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2017/
heads-up-earthlings-the-geminids-are-here.html
  [9] https://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/Phaethon/ Phaethon_planning.2017.html
  [10] http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/3200-phaethon/
  [11] ap171223.html
  [12] ap171221.html
  [13] archivepix.html
  [14] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [15] lib/aptree.html
  [16] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [17] calendar/allyears.html
  [18] /apod.rss
  [19] lib/edlinks.html
  [20] lib/about_apod.html
  [21] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=171222
  [22] ap171223.html
  [23] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [24] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [25] http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [26] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [27] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [28] http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [29] http://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [30] http://www.nasa.gov/
  [31] http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [32] http://www.mtu.edu/
